


Shikata Ga Nai

by OpensUp4Nobody



Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst, Homophobia, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Romance, Struggle, Trauma, World War II, emotional issues, life is rough :/, lots of trauma, mental issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-04
Updated: 2015-06-12
Packaged: 2018-03-21 05:21:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 50,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3679389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OpensUp4Nobody/pseuds/OpensUp4Nobody
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The United States entered WWII as a response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Executive order 9066 ordered all Japanese people in The United States on the west coast be held in camps for the protection of the country.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Trust Me

1\. Trust me

"We're only taking turns holding this world. It's how it's always been, when you're older, you will understand."

-"Trust me" The Fray

XxxX

September 1, 1939 marked the start of the Second World War. The allies against the axis powers. While in Europe countries were already fighting the axis army the United States of America was more reluctant to join. It was able to maintain isolation because it was an ocean away from the warring continent. It maintained formal neutrality until December of 1941. 

XxxX

December 6, 1941

In a small apartment in Los Angeles, California a group of nine friends were enjoying a wonderful, if a bit chaotic, meal made by the hands of one Sanji Noir. The room was filled with noise as they group scarfed down their food, avoiding the sneaky hands of a black haired boy with a bottomless stomach. 

They were celebrating the confirmation of Robin's new job as a historian at a nearby museum. Maybe it wasn't exactly the job she wanted but in this day and age it was about the best she could do and her friends were happy for her. 

Luffy leaned back and sighed in content, patting his bulging stomach, "Sanji's food is the best."

The blond chef smirked as he collected plates from the table, "Your damn right it's the best," he said around a smoldering cigarette. 

"Thank you for the wonderful meal Mr. Cook, and thank all of you for celebrating with me," Robin said pleasantly, smiling around the room. 

"Anything for you, my lovely Robin," the chef said dramatically, wiggling in happiness. 

"Yeah Robin, we wouldn't be very good friends if we didn't throw you an super get together!" Franky chimed in loudly. Luffy and Usopp raised their forks with a cry of agreement. 

"Cook, booze," Zoro demanded, breaking the friendly atmosphere with a glare in Sanji's general direction. 

At this the blond's expression fell to a glare, "If you can't ask nicely, Marimo, I'll give everyone else alcohol while you sit in misery," despite the threat he opened a cabinet and set multiple bottles onto the table and made no effort to stop whoever grabbed them up. 

The evening passed quickly with heavy laughter and the warm buzz of alcohol. But all good things must come to an end and eventually one by one the friends left Sanji's apartment until only it's resident and the green haired man remained, both slouched in different chairs. 

Sanji, who was fairly drunk by this time groaned in annoyance, "Why are you still here, you shitty green bastard?" 

"Shut up, I'm sleeping here," Zoro laid back on the couch where he had previously been sitting. 

"Tsk, you can't just invite yourself over. What if I don't want you here?"

"If you didn't want me here you would have already thrown me out." He grumbled, letting his eyes fall shut. 

"Oh, really? Why would I want a moss ball like you around here?"

Zoro fixed Sanji with an intense stare, "I think you know why," he stated lowly. 

The blond looked away wanting to avoid any direction this conversation would go, "I assure you I do not." although he did know. 

"Then why do you look so uncomfortable?" 

Sanji stood jerkily, "Fine. Stay. I don't give a shit," he picked up the empty glass he had been drinking from and walked over to the kitchen to do a bit of cleaning up before he passed out and had to do it tomorrow. 

Despite the dismissive behavior Zoro followed Sanji into the kitchen, standing a bit too close to the blond and placing his hands on the other's narrow hips. 

Said blond stiffen, his normally steady hands faltering, "Don't touch me, Zoro." 

The green haired nuisance leaned closer, "Why not?"

Because this was a serious crime. Because they could serve up to ten years in jail if someone found out. Because he was straight. Because he didn't want to think about it. Because it made his stomach lurch. Because he was afraid of what was happening. Because. Because. Because. 

There was a long pause filled by a stinging, unwanted emotion, "Because I told you not to. So let go before I kick you all the way back to fucking Japan," but the threat lacked malice. This... Thing was something that had been developing over the three years they had known one another. There had been much violence, denial, lots of denial, and screaming at each other but here they were, it was nothing new but unexceptable all the same. It still made Sanji feel slightly sick thinking about it too much. Although situations like this were not uncommon to him he felt he had to try to stop it even if he did not really want to. It made him hate himself. 

"You're being ridiculous."

"I'm being sensible, you stubborn bastard."

"Fine," the Japanese man dropped his hands, "Just come to bed." 

Sanji sighed and looked over his kitchen once before walking toward his bedroom, abandoning the dishes with a, "Fine, you win. Fucking jackass," ot that it took much convincing. 

As they slept in Sanji's bed they fell asleep comfortably laying a bit too close. 

XxxX

9:35 am 

Sanji woke in a warm bed, an idiot taking up most it's space. He sighed wondering how it had come to this. He had a slight headache from the alcohol he had consumed but he knew he should start his day. After a few moments he resolved to get up and start breakfast. When he walked into the kitchen he turned on his radio. As he listened he flitted around the kitchen with purpose. 

Sunday was his one day off, and he planned to start it off on a good note. He worked as sous chef in a high class restaurant but dreamed of owning a place of his own. 

He was humming to himself, having just finished cooking breakfast when the Zoro walked in with a loud yawn. 

"Just in time, Marimo," Sanji said as he set two plates of food onto the table. The other man grunted and started shoveling food into his mouth. 

Sanji wrinkled his nose in disgust, "So how long do you plan on staying here?"

"Not long, I have to be at work by eleven," Zoro worked in a factory manufacturing ammunition for the European nations. The United States may not be at war but they were definitely involved in supplying the allies when they could. Working conditions were harsh and the pay was not great but it was the best he could do given that he had limited schooling. 

Sanji hummed, resting his cheek against his palm and staring at the table, "We can't keep doing this, shitty swordsman." But he said this nearly every time and he surely did not feel like he wanted to stop any time soon. 

"Sure we can," the green haired man grumbled stubbornly as he always did. Maybe things weren't perfect but this made them happy even if no one would approve. 

"Someone is going to find out."

"Don't worry about it, shit-cook. It'll be fine," and with that he stood placing a hand on the blond's cheek, tilted up his head, and kissed him softly on the mouth, "Later."

The door shut softly as he left, leaving Sanji with an unpleasant churning in his stomach. He knew what they were doing was wrong and despite that he could not help but want to continue on this dangerous path anyway. No one could know. He would lose his job, his friends, his future... But he could not stop. 

Sanji spent his day listening to the radio and doing mundane house chores. It was a perfectly peaceful day until the usual production of "The World Today" was interrupted. 

"We interrupt this program to bring you a special news bulletin," said the voice of a male announcer, "The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor by air, President Roosevelt has just announced. The attack was also made on all naval and military activities on the principal island of Oahu. We take you now to Washington." The announcement continued not giving any details but giving off the impression that war was looming just over head. 

Sanji was shocked, he knew that tensions were high but was not expecting such an attack. The Japanese must be very confident to make such a bold move, he thought with concern. 

Later that night the First Lady came onto the radio to address the public on the serious nature of the attack. As she spoke Sanji stared out his window down at the bustling city below. The clear sky had grown darker and cloudy, the people in the streets seemed to move more quickly through the streets. There was much confusion and tension, waiting to hear the details of the events. Dreading the impending actions and knowledge. 

XxxX 

December 8, 1941

Around twenty-four hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor president Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his speech before congress over the radio. Normally radios were not allowed to be played while working in the kitchen were Sanji was employed but everyone was waiting to hear from the president so it was allowed just for the day. 

"Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

"The United States was at peace with that nation, and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.

"Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And, while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.

"It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese Government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

"The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

"Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an attack against Malaya.  
Last night Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.  
Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam.  
Last night Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.  
Last night the Japanese attacked Wake Island.  
And this morning the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

"Japan has therefore undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

"As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense, that always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.

"No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people, in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory.

"I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.

"Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.

"With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph. So help us God.

"I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire."

Not even an hour later the United States was at war with the Japanese empire. This news was highly concerning, not just in thinking about the future of young Americans but for the fate of Japanese-Americans in the United States. Sanji knew from Zoro that as Japan began to expand it's empire and joined up with the the enemy racism became an even larger issue. Not that things were not horrible before but yeaterday they had been walking down the street when a man spat at Zoro calling him a Jap bastard. He had a feeling that things were only going to get worse from there. 

XxxX

December 11, Hitler declared war on the United States. They were officially part of the war in Europe. This meant that people would be drawn from the draft although many young men had already signed up, eager to avenge Pearl Harbor because you do not fuck with America. Unfortunately the country was not exactly ready for war. They had only a tiny reserve of trained soldiers to send out so they had to take in a massive amount of men. 

Only Franky and Luffy were really eligible for draft. Robin and Nami were women, Usopp was African-American, Sanji had only lived in the country for only three years as a French immigrant, Chopper was too young, Brook was too old, and the government was barring Japanese-Americans so Zoro was also not eligible. 

So, three weeks after the attack Franky was drafted. Sanji hear the news from Usopp who worked with Franky at a mechanic shop. Franky managed to get him the job despite racial push back against him working there. It was a real shame, thought Sanji, people are people and Usopp is a great one. Therefore not only did he have to worry about his friend's safety but his own job security as well.

The day before the blue haired man left the crew threw him a huge party and sent him off with many tears shed. Despite this the blue haired man kept his spirits up in his willingness to fight for what he believed in, saying he would be a super soldier and kick some axis ass. 

XxxX 

In the wake of the Pearl Harbor attack people had panicked. They could not comprehend that Japan had dealt them such a hard hit. This was half because they thought they were safe across the ocean and half due to racial prejudice. People in the cities grew paranoid and xenophobic. In some places there was mass hysteria. Zoro could feel people stare at him with suspicious eyes or the mutter racial slurs as he walked by. All very frustrating but there was nothing that could be done. He just had to grit his teeth and deal with it. 

The young Japanese man was disheartened at the news that the United States was at war with his home country. Not overly so, he had come over with his caretaker at age fourteen and had no living family there but it caused a small pang of sadness all the same. It was indeed a shame that the people he was supporting were going to have to dump firepower down upon his home land. Not ideal. 

Jobs became more available as people were drafted. This was good for Zoro because he lost his job not long after the attack. His employer said he was not satisfied with his work but he was obviously be fired on racial grounds. Many Asian-Americans were losing jobs, being barred from stores, and being otherwise discriminated against. This made finding a new job difficult but with all of the new openings it could have been worse. He ended up working in a factory that made airplane parts, it paid slightly less than his old job but now he was making money again. 

After all this war business started he began showing up at Sanji's apartment more and more regularly. This was mostly because he wanted to blow off his pent up aggression over being in such an awful situation. Sanji just happened to be the perfect outlet. Their familiar sparring matches helped lessen the anger if only by a little. 

After a particularly vigorous match the two men lay panting on the ground. 

"It's fucking bullshit!" Zoro whined in frustration, "People keep looking at me like I'm the one who blew up that stupid base. It's not my fucking fault I was born in Japan."

"They're just a bunch of scared morons. They don't care if you were born in japan or not. You look different so obviously you must be the enemy," Sanji rolled his eyes dramatically, "Don't worry I would still hate you no matter what you looked like, you stupid plant," he gave a half hearted kick to the shin. 

Zoro sat up, "Well now I feel so much better," he huffed sarcastically. 

"Glad I could help. In return you should pick up that plate you broke and be grateful I'm not going to kick your ass for that," the plate had been flung from Sanji's grip when Zoro had marched in and punched him in the gut, quite unexpectedly. 

The Marimo groaned but did has he was told, grabbing the cook's broom and dust pan. 

"Why were you so upset when you came in anyway?" Sanji asked, walking into the kitchen to start dinner. 

Zoro paused, "On my way over this kid dropped a toy in front of me. When I picked it up to return it the mom snatched it from me and pulled her kid away like I was gonna hurt him or something. She told be not to touch her child and get the hell away from them." He remembered her panicked look as she shoved the boy behind her. Zoro loathed the tendency of humans to generalize. It was a pain in his ass. 

Sanji rubbed a hand over his face, people were growing increasingly afraid of Asian immigrants. Other people had ended up beaten in the streets or dead, not that the police did much to help that. It made his blood boil when he thought about it. 

People could be so cruel. 

XxxX

February 19, 1942

The president signed into effect executive order 9066. Japanese citizens, nisei, those who were born in the United States, Kibei, who were born in America but were schooled in japan, and issei, who had immigrated there to the west cost, were to be removed from their homes and sent to relocation camps. The president assure his people that this was for the good of America. To prevent sabotage, spying, and things of the like. Obviously this was a great idea because so many people were behind in. 

Sanji was home cooking dinner when he heard this announcement over the radio. He froze starring wide eyed at the sound emitting device, this was outrageous. He was shocked at the clear infringement of rights on behave of these people. He was also definitely not worried about what would happen to Zoro. Yeah, not at all. Nevertheless he decided to call him to hear what his thoughts were on this issue, or more likely to tell him about it because he never listened to the radio. 

The blond cook grabbed his phone and quickly wrung up the Marimo. 

"Hello," came the gruff tones of Zoro's voice. 

"Hey Marimo, have you heard about the newest order from the White House?"

"Eh? No, why are you bothering me about this?"

"Because it applies to you, dumbass. You should be paying more attention to the news. They say they're going to round up all the Japanese citizens and take them away." Sanji said flatly. 

"What? They can't do that. Isn't that like a violation of rights, or something?"

"Apparently it's for the greater good so it's okay."

"Fucking bullshit, they won't seriously go through with it. Maybe they'll get a few people but they can't just round everyone up, it would be totally impossible!"

"Even so, you should probably watch out."

"Worried about me, love cook?"

"You wish, moss brain. Just thought you should know. I would expect calls from the others too because some of them are worldly people who enjoy knowing what goes on around them, unlike you." 

"Mm."

"Anyway, fuck you I'm hanging up."

"Whatever."

Sanji dropped the phone back into place and frowned. This was not going to end well. Something like this and they had only been at war about two months. 

XxxX

April 18, the Doolittle raid on Nagoya, Tokyo, and Yokohama was a success. Or at least it was made out to be a success. The way Sanji saw it the raids did not do much physically but it was a blow to Japan's pride that the Americans could pull off an attack like this. Much like the way the Americans could not believe that Japan could pull off Pearl Harbor, except in the Pearl Harbor attack a sufficient amount of damage was done. Sanji hoped that successes would build up so that people would not be so afraid anymore and this terrible order would be overruled. But from here the battle on the pacific was not going so well and he had a very bad feeling in his gut.


	2. Paper Tigers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zoro gets his orders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I’ve been huddled up alone  
> By the fire even though  
> I’m not exactly feeling cold  
> And I’ve been bundled up for days  
> Too confused to be amazed  
> At all the icy water in my veins  
> Why do I feel so alone?
> 
> -"Paper Tigers" Owl City

Around the city Japanese families began to disappear, selling their homes, their businesses, and their belongings for dirt cheep.

XxxX

May 2, 1942

Zoro heard a knock at his apartment door. It was early morning and he had worked late the evening before so he shambled slowly to the door and was met by the sight of two armed men in military uniform.

"Zoro Roronoa?" the man asked with a serious expression plastered on his stupid face. Zoro nodded dumbly at him. "As a Japanese citizen you are under suspicion by the US government, and therefore must be taken into custody. You have until six o'clock May fourth to get your things in order at which point you will be retrieved and held at the local police station until transport. Take only what you can carry, no weapons allowed. If you resist arrest the consequences will be sever. That is all." The officer spared him a look of distaste before he and his companion turned and left.

Zoro stood there stunned. Only two days. Two days. He cast a glance around his apartment. He was not really the material kind of guy, there were not many things of interest there in his apartment. The only things he really cherished were his three beautiful katanas. No weapons allowed. He could not bring them. He felt a small stir of panic as he tried to think a way out of the situation. Zoro was not one to back down when facing adversity but what choice did he have here?

He could run from the city, which would not do him any good. It is not like he could change his face, the police would get him eventually. He could hide with one of his friends but for how long? Until the war was over? It could be years and when he was found out he and probably whoever he was staying with would be arrested. He could make a case with the courts. Sanji was always going on about how someone should make a case against this bullshit law so it would get through to the Supreme Court. But he did not have the money to hire a good lawyer.

Sanji. They were all going over to have a get together at his place that night to keep everyone's minds off of this whole war thing. What was he going to do?

He felt slightly sick but he he shook his head determinedly. He had to put on a strong face at least for today. Tomorrow he would tell everyone but today he would get one last taste of normality.

The first thing to do was start selling off his shit. He grabbed a duffle bag and filled it with things like cloths, blankets, and whatever else he could fit. He doubted that they would be very accommodating where he was going so it was probably best to cover all the bases. Taking what was left, minus his prized katanas, he went off to see what he could sell.

XxxX

The day passed far too quickly for Zoro's taste, and he soon found himself entering Sanji's apartment. Luffy, and Usopp were already there bothering the cook as he tried to do what he did best in the kitchen while Zoro silently watched in amusement.

Nami showed up next, then Chopper, Robin, and finally Brook. Everyone was in high spirits, or as high as their spirits could be given the situation they were all in, and Zoro felt he did a good job of acting his normal self. It was not really that hard, he just had to not think about it. He may have fallen short on a reaction here or there but no one seemed to notice. Not even Robin who always seemed to know everything. It was like she had super human secret sensors or something.

Unfortunately, like every party this one had to come to an end and late in the night the friends began to file out of Sanji's apartment. 

"Coming Zoro?" Usopp asked as he walked toward the exit.

"Nah," he replied, "I have to talk to shit-cook about something," Usopp just shrugged and walked out, he was the last to go.

The Japanese man felt a jolt of sadness now that everyone was gone. Excluding, of course, Sanji who was sweeping up the shatters remains of a bowl that Luffy had either thrown or knocked onto the floor. Zoro stood in the doorway for a moment just watching. It was probably the last time things would be like this for a while, he dreaded telling everyone.

Sanji looked up when he realized he was being watched with a strange expression, "Enjoying the view?" he asked with a smirk.

"Maybe." There was something strange in the way Zoro said the word, something felt off. The chef was not sure what but he narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"What?" the marimo asked innocently, walking forward into the kitchen.

Sanji dumped the glass shards into the trash and put the broom back in its place before glaring at the moss head in front of him. "Something's up," he said looking the man up and down.

Zoro smirked. "It's all in your stupid head, cook. Nothing is up." He placed his hand on Sanji's shoulder and gave him a patronizing pat. Sanji sneered at him and aimed a kick at his head which, instead of meeting it's mark the leg was locked in Zoro's iron grip.

"Whatcha gonna do now, blondie?" Zoro taunted, squeezing slightly at Sanji's leg. While Sanji struggled to pull his leg free Zoro backed him into a cabinet and brought their faces closer together. 

"Bastard," Sanji breathed angrily before Zoro closed the gap.

Zoro's actions were slow and deliberate. Again Sanji felt like something was off. The swordsman usually worked more eager and frenzied angle than slow and passionate. It was like he wanted it to last as long as possible. Like he was committing each action to memory. It reminded him of when he saw men leaving to join the army. They knew they would not see their loved ones any time soon so they lingered sort of like this. Exactly like this, actually.

Sanji's eyes snapped open. He quickly broke off the kiss and grabbed Zoro's face, staring into his dark eyes. "They came didn't they? They're going to put you away in one of those fucking camps, aren't they?" Sanji was on the verge of panicking, desperate to be told he was, in actual fact, mistaken.

Zoro did not say anything, he looked down to avoid eye contact. Sanji paled, his arms dropped back down to his sides.

"How long do you have?" he asked in a small voice.

"Until six on the fourth, they came this morning. I was going to tell everyone tomorrow," Zoro admitted reluctantly. 

Sanji let out a humorless laugh, "It shouldn't be unexpected. It was bound to happen after all. It just... It seemed like it never would, you know? They shouldn't be able to do this. Fuck, what are you going to do?" His throat felt tight as he waited for an answer.

"Make the most of it I guess. I've already started to sell some of my shit, not that it'll go for much but better than nothing I guess."

Sanji looked away and said nothing for a long time. When he finally looked up he muttered, "Fucking bullshit," before drawing them together again. And it was Zoro's turn to be shocked. Sanji never made the first move. But this was a special circumstance and he was going to savor the feeling. Slow and passionate it was then.

XxxX

When Sanji woke up he was warm and comfortable. It took a moment for the cruel wave of reality wash over his head. For a second it was like he was drowning. He did not want to get up ever again. He wanted Zoro to stay here forever, to never go anywhere. Slipping out of bed, he quietly and called in sick for work. He didn't need to put any effort into faking, his voice was slightly gruff from sleep and he sounded warn down. After making the call he slipped back into bed and tried not to think too much.

About an hour later when Zoro woke up the green haired man forced himself get dressed and out of bed. He knew that today he had to tell the rest of his friends what was going on and settle the rest of his business. Sanji was already awake and followed him out of the room like some sort of ghost.

Grabbing the phone, he typed in Luffy's number. If Luffy knew soon enough everyone would know, plus he knew Luffy would be home anyway.

As soon as the line connected the cheerful boy picked up. "Hello?"

"Luffy, it's Zoro. I really need to talk to you about something." Zoro's stomach was filled with dread. 

"Eh, what is it?"

"Well..." He paused, not quite knowing how to continue, "The police came by and I have to leave... Tomorrow."

There was a long silence, "Oh, I'll be over as soon as possible," his voice had taken on an unusually serious note and after that he suddenly hung up.

Zoro stared at the phone for a moment. He should probably head back to his place to meet up with Luffy.

He walked into the kitchen where Sanji was starting to cook something. "Hey cook, I have to go meet Luffy back at my place."

"Eat first, we can still get there before him," the chef said, not deviating in his task.

Zoro decided not to argue because his stomach was starting to growl. He also had a limited number of Sanji cooked meals left and was not about to waste this one if he could avoid it. 

"Hey cook," Zoro called upon his attention. 

"Hm?" the blond said distractedly. 

"I want you to look after my swords."

"W-what?" Sanji felt like someone had dropped something heavy on top of him, squishing the air out of his lungs.

"I can't take them with me, so I want you to look after them until I get back," the swordsman explained seriously.

Sanji made a pained face before taking a deep breath and nodding, not trusting his voice. He knew how big a deal it was that he was being asked for such a task and to turn him down would be a horrible insult, not that he wanted to. Looking after Zoro's swords would be like looking after Zoro's strength and resolve. 

Zoro looked relieved, but soon smirked. "You better take good fucking care of them. I don't want to come back to find out that you've destroyed them."

Sanji rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah I'll look after them like their my own children. They're safe with me," he swore. 

"They'd better be."

XxxX

They managed to make it to Zoro's apartment before Luffy, as anticipated and the usually joyful man looked quite unhappy. He walked in and sat on the floor across from Zoro and Sanji. On the floor because Zoro had already sold most of his furniture, the more expensive of which he put into storage.

Luffy crossed his arms, "I told everyone else. They can't come right now but they'll show up at some point." They all had work to do and didn't know in advance to take time off. 

They came later though. The trio spent the day going in and out of Zoro's apartment, getting rid of his things, buying things he might need, putting more expensive things in a storage facility, and transporting his swords to their new home. Eventually everyone had stopped by, most on a lunch break, others after work was over. They agreed to meeting at Zoro's for a final sending off party in his empty apartment. 

Most everyone reacted differently to the news. Robin had warned Zoro not to do anything rash with a sad smile, Nami whacked him over the head and told him to come back or she would triple his debt, Chopper, Usopp and Brook had sobbed uncontrollably over him, Sanji was quiet and withdrawn, and Luffy promised him that he would end up back with them again with a childlike smile on his face.

It was not like when Franky left. Franky was sad to leave but glad for the chance to fight for his country. In this situation no one wanted Zoro to leave and Zoro did not want to go anywhere.

Everyone decided to stay over in order to see him one last time before he had to go. The girls shared Zoro's room, while the guys slept the floor of the main room. Everyone found it difficult to sleep. In the middle of the night Zoro reached out to Sanji who was quite clearly still awake. Sanji gave the marimo a questioning look. Zoro said nothing, he just pulled Sanji closer to him. Sanji did not even have the heart to even hope no one saw them. Right now he really didn't give a fuck.

XxxX

That morning everyone was up earlier than nessicary. They enjoyed a delicious but eerily quiet breakfast and waited for a knock on the door.

It felt a bit like they were at a strange sort of ritual where a dead spirit would be take away to some sort of after life. Strange because no one was actually dead, only going away for an undetermined period of time.

When they saw an army jeep pull up to the building Zoro turned to make his last goodbye but he could not quite force the words out. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath, creating a tense atmosphere.

Sanji was the first to break the silence. He made a choking sound as his tears were filling his eyes and he threw himself at Zoro.

"You better come back soon you fucking bastard," he said through clenched teeth.

The tension was broken, and suddenly everyone was crying. They formed a large group hug around their friend. 

When they finally let him go Zoro gave everyone a large grin. "I be back before you know it. They can't keep me locked up forever," he promised and with one last goodbye he walked over to answer the door. Four military officers wielding bayonet adorned guns were standing in front of him.

"Zoro Roronoa?" one man asked in order to verify that they had the right victim.

"Yes." It's not that they couldn't tell it was him they were after. His face was the reason they were after him, clearly. 

"Come with us." They turned and escorted him out of the building, leaving his friends alone in his empty apartment.

When they got to the police station the officers looked through Zoro's things before he was taken to a holding cell which contained many more Japanese people. Men, women, and children alike, all cramped into the small cages like zoo animals. 

At twelve they were given a small meal and loaded up onto buses. The bus ride was long and uncomfortable. About an hour in they were transitioned to a train, which they took for the rest of the journey. Around him families were huddled together. Some tried to keep calm for the sake of their children, while others shed tears and cast fearful looks at the military men escorting them. More pointedly at the guns they carried.

They ended up at the Tulare county fairgrounds. There they could see a few makeshift buildings, some of which were under construction. They were lead off the bus by armed guards and taken into the horse stables. Each family unit was given a stall, which had been cleaned out but still carried the strong smell of horse shit. They were told that when barracks became available they would be transferred.

There were eight bathroom sites and eight mess halls. They were given the chance to roam freely so Zoro decided to check out the buildings. The bathrooms were communal, male and female, they were in terrible condition and the showers had no curtains. The barracks from what he could see were standing off the ground on concrete struts and covered in tarpaper. 

What a charming little place, thought Zoro darkly 

Guards walked around with weapons out, giving the feeling that this was a prison and that they were criminals.

When dinner time came around everyone ended up in the mess halls. They were served army rations which were not pleasant and made Zoro long for Sanji's amazing cooking, not that he would ever confess to that. Well, maybe he would if it meant he didn't have to eat this shit. 

That night was unpleasant. Zoro tried to use the extra clothes he had brought to lay over the straw to make it more comfortable. The stables did not exactly have the most privacy either, he could hear people talking, shifting, and crying.

He wondered what his friends were doing, probably trying to get on with their lives. He hoped this war thing wouldn't take too long but he had an unpleasant feeling in his stomach that did not offer much hope of that. Normally, the swordsman could sleep in any situation but that night he could not find rest.

In the morning people were sorted out with jobs. Professionals were paid eighteen dollars per month, skilled workers were paid sixteen dollars per month, and unskilled workers were paid twelve dollars per month.

Zoro fell under the category of unskilled worker and was assigned to help build barracks.

Life in Tulare was unpleasant, the conditions were rough and they were not suited for people who were sick, pregnant, old, or had small children. There was a general downtrodden aura about the place.

Zoro mostly kept to himself, he went about his work, training when he could, using whatever he could and trying not to think about the friends he had left. They did not have a post office he could use to contact them.

XxxX

May eleventh, Zoro was moved into the barracks with six strangers. They were all cramped into a sixteen by twenty foot room. All of his new roommates were American citizens, outraged at their treatment. There was a family of four with two teenage boys, and a young couple who had married so that they would not be separated. They were not unpleasant but he did not get to know them well.

Six days later instead of being assigned to work construction, Zoro and a large group of people were chosen to be transferred to a more permanent holding facility. 230 miles northeast of Los Angeles, in Owens Valley, lay the Manzanar Relocation Camp. When he first spotted it coming in on a bus he thought it looked quite odd. The place was surrounded by a five strand barbwire fence attached to a few tall watchtowers. The camp itself sat in the middle of a desert area, snow topped mountains rose ominously in the distance.

Zoro and the others were forced from the buses and marched out in front of a series of long identical buildings by armed guards.

They were sorted into groups and given taken to different barracks which would become their new homes. Zoro was taken to block 8 which contained 15 barracks. He was put into a group with seven other people. A middle age couple with a young daughter and older son, a young couple, and an older man. They were led into one of the barracks which were comprised of four separate compartments.

The building was ill constructed, not unlike those at Tulare, raised about two feet from the ground, which you could see in gaps in the floor, the walls were wooden and covered in tarpaper. The room itself was twenty by twenty-five feet, they were provided two of these rooms to live in each with a light bulb hanging from the ceiling and an oil stove. They were also given steel cots, some mattress covers that they had to stuff with straw, and two scratchy army blankets each.

Zoro became acquainted to his presumably more permanent housemates. The Kita family, headed by Haruko and Allison Kita and their two children Mary and Nick. Haruko was a solemn man who now worked in the mess hall, before relocation he had been a store owner and was bitter over the loss of his business. He had come to America for a chance of a better life, while his wife, born and raised an American, was kind and worked as a nurse at a hospital she did her best to keep her head heigh, if only for the kids. Mary and Nick were good kids most of the time, they went to school during the day and made friends. 

The kids were surprisingly well adapted to life at Manzanar. Some of their parents had told the younger ones that they were on a vacation and they seemed not to be too bothered by the things that went on. Except the armed guards, Zoro overheard them ask why they were there, and their mother had told them that they were there for protection. But they didn't understand why, if they were there for protection, their guns aimed inward and not out.

Catherine and Mark Nakano married as soon as people started being taken away so that they would be placed together like the couple back at Tulare. Catherine worked in the school, Mark helped make supplies for the army.

Shouta Ueno was American born but studied in japan, he was separated from his family when he was taken away. He worked in the fields.

Zoro was one of them now, but he didn't feel like he belonged there. None of them really belonged there but Zoro felt more isolated than he had in his entire life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Historical stuff:
> 
> Japanese families were forced to sell their things and leave their homes with as little time as 48 hours. I also feel like Zoro would have tried something really stupid in this situation but I didn't want him arrested and when people were taken away it was probably a bit more forceful. Over 127,000 citizens, two-thirds Nisei were taken into camps.
> 
> April 9, 1942, the Wartime Civil Control Administration was established. Under WCCA people had to stay in fair grounds or horse sheds because there weren't facilities for them yet. March 18, 1942, the Wartime Relocation Authority took over. The WRA dealt with the actual facilities after they were built by those being held there.
> 
> Tulare Assembly Center was a WCCA facility that opened April 20, 1942 and closed September 4, 1942. It was in fact a fairground. It had a peak population of about 5,000. There were about 100 barracks inside the grounds and 55 outside.
> 
> Manzanar opened March 21, 1942, it was the first of ten facilities to be developed. By september the population at Manzanar was about 10,000, around ninety percent from the LA area. At peak it held 10,046 and in total it held around 11,000 people. 504 barracks in 36 blocks. June first the WRA took over from the WCCA.
> 
> Thanks.


	3. Vanilla Twilight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time passes at Manzanar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll find repose in new ways  
> Though I haven't slept in two days  
> 'Cause cold nostalgia chills me to the bone  
> But drenched in vanilla twilight  
> I'll sit on the front porch all night  
> Waist deep in thought because when  
> I think of you I don't feel so alone
> 
> -"Vanilla Twilight" Owl City

Manzanar was similar to Tulare in that they still served awful food, there was absolutely no privacy, and they were surrounded by armed guards. Manzanar was, however, much larger. On the grounds they already had a few shops beginning to be set up and a small school, they were also quickly trying to throw together a hospital.

Instead of building new barracks Zoro's new job became to work in the fields where people were trying to grow crops, not very successfully at that due to the arid climate.

Life was only slightly more pleasant here for Zoro. He did not deal well with being treated like a prisoner, thus the guards were suspicious of him. He had a few run ins here and there but nothing serious. He wasn't sure what would happen if he got into major trouble.

XxxX

June brought the creation of a police station, post office, jail, library, and other facilities. When the post office came into being many rushed to send out letters, Zoro included, he assumed messages would be late to go out due to army censorship but he wanted to let his friends know he was okay. As he tried to think of something to write suddenly all the words left him and he had no idea what to say, so he just wrote the first things that came to his head. When he was finally able to he sent out a letter addressed to Luffy but for everyone:

June 17, 1942

Luffy,

I want you to share this letter with everyone. I've been taken to a camp called Manzanar, I've been here about a month, before I was at Tulare. This place is horrible. I'm stuck in a tiny room with a bunch of people. I can't even take a shower by myself and the guards aren't too fond of me. It'll probably take a while for this to go through, they only just opened the post office. I'm okay for now though, don't worry about me. 

Zoro

XxxX

June also brought along extreme heat, it could get as hot as 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Sweeping dust out of the barracks became something people had to do multiple times a day because gusted of wind would blow dust up through the floor.

The hopless feeling of the prisoners- internees seemed to thrive in the oppressive weather. The phrase shikata ga nai, meaning 'it can't be helped', became a common mantra.

In July Zoro finally got a reply from his friends, they had placed individual letters into an overstuffed envelope and sent it. It was good to know he didn't send a letter to nowhere. It was good to have a connection to the outside world.

XxxX

July 19, 1942

Marimo,

The fuck is wrong with you? There were absolutely no details in your letter, you fucking asshole. You saying the place is horrible could mean anywhere from "there are too many people and it's slightly uncomfortable" to "people are are dropping dead at my feet and I have to eat them for food." Only eat people if you have no other choice, otherwise it's just not cool. And why don't the guards like you? Not that I can blame them, you are an unlikeable bastard. I am going to guess they don't like you because you resist their authority and you don't make curfews. You don't make curfews because you get lost. You poor thing, can't find your way home. I guess you don't have to explain it after all, I've just answered my own question but I'm too lazy to start a new letter so I'm just going to keep going. 

Over here we don't have any information on what's going on in there. I don't think they want us to know how bad it is. I say that like they're torturing you or something but for all I know they could be. I'm not sure if not knowing is worse than knowing. 

We received a letter from Franky, he's being stationed over in Europe. He probably has a better chance there than over on the pacific. I hear the Japanese are pretty brutal fighters. Excluding you of course because I can kick your ass way too easily. Then again, you can never tell how good an enemy really is when you're not fighting the battle, the government is in control of how much we see so they could not even exist and I would be none the wiser. Except, I know they exist because I saw the lead up while I was still in France. I guess that little bit of wisdom applies more to these isolationists here, not that there are many left after Pearl Harbor. Whatever, I'm just taking this as an opportunity to rant because you aren't here to listen to me bitch about things so I guess you should be grateful that you can just skip over my writing. 

I don't know how much information you're getting in there and knowing how much you would listen to it I feel like I should tell you what's up in the world. June 7th there was finally a success in beating back japan. They're calling it the battle at Midpoint. Maybe the Americans will pull through. Also, they created the Office of War Information. It's been open like a month and it's already spinning out loads of anti-japan and anti-nazi propaganda. I'm not sure how to feel about that. Sure, it's gaining war support but I've seen down of those posters and they are pretty fucking racist. 

You better reply to this as soon as fucking possible because this whole situation makes my head want to explode.

I have my whole life ahead of me, don't let my brain explode,

Sanji

XxxX

Zoro read through all of his letters, his grin never leaving his face. It made his heart hurt to think about them. Reading their letters made him feel a million miles from home when he really wasn't the far. Immediately, he started writing his replies while his housemates argued over something stupid as they always did. The close quarters and hight temperatures weren't exactly good for the temper. 

XxxX

August 29, 1942

Shit-cook,

I didn't know I had to give you a full report, my apologies I suck at words. Horrible conditions in this case means I have absolutely no privacy, ridiculous field work, armed guards who don't give a shit, crying children, and food so shitty it makes me miss yours. This place may be a shit hole but it's not so horrible that I have to feast on the flesh of my fellow prisoners. The guards don't like me because I'm not afraid of them and I don't get lost. This place just has a confusing layout. All the buildings look the same. The guards are all a bunch of weaklings anyway, it's not even worth knocking them around.

I'm not surprised that people on the outside don't know anything. We aren't allowed to have cameras in here. If I really wanted to I could get to know what's going on. Someone in my unit has a radio but I don't really feel like making friends. 

Japan has a strong loyalty to the emperor, he's kind of like a living god. It seems like bullshit to me. But Franky will be a good soldier. And they have to create propaganda to get everyone on board to take those bastards down.

Keep your head together, cook. I'm replying as soon as possible but it's nice to know you're so worried about me.

Zoro

XxxX

September 24, 1942

Moss ball,

You most definitely get lost, you wander around like a little kid. Is there no one worth sparing with? Speaking of fighty words, your precious swords here are doing fine. I feel like I have to say something like a babysitter giving a parent an update. Isn't there anything good about that place? You really should make friends, dork ditch us for a bunch of losers though. Luffy would be upset. 

I get that they have to get the morons on their side for all this propaganda shit but I still don't like feeling manipulated. I feel like they think I'm stupid. 

Things feel pretty shit around here. It feels empty without everyone here, you know. I'd tell you about it but I'm no poet so you can make up your own sorry words and pretend I said them to comfort yourself in these dark times. 

I'm not worried about you, it's just weird not having you here. And part of me hopes that nothing happens to you, that's all. 

Sanji

XxxX

October 13, 1942

Dart-brow,

Glad to hear my swords are in capable hands. I gave them to you for a reason after all. No one I've met has had enough skill to face me. There are a few who are okay but no one too challenging. So don't worry, I won't be cheating on you. It doesn't really matter anyway, they don't usually let us play with swords as you might imagine. Sometimes we fight with wooden ones though, when no one's around. 

Everything here is horrible. Sometimes I go down to the orphanage to teach kids some kendo with sticks they find. That's the only thing I can really look forward to and now they never leave me alone. Just yesterday one if the girls attached herself to my leg and I walked all the way home before her one of the ladies found her and dragged her off. I'm not going to lie though, she is my favorite. Last week she tried to make me onigiri with left overs from the cafeteria but she made them wrong and they were awful, I still ate them though. I can stomach anything after eating your cooking for so long. 

It does feel a little like mind control, what they're doing but that's what higher powers do. 

It's weird not being there. Sometimes I feel like I'm just on a shitty vacation and I'll be back shortly but it doesn't look like things are going to go that way. At least it's not so fucking hot anymore. 

Zoro

XxxX

November 11, 1942

Grass-head,

Don't say weird things, dumbass. At least you have something, I'm sure those kids love you. You are shockingly good with kids for such an unfeeling creature. You better be nice to that little girl, she sounds adorable. Maybe you should adopt her and bring her home with you, I could teach her to cook and you could teach her to sword fight. It would be awesome. 

I'm sure you've heard from the others but Usopp finally lost his job. I was staring to think they were going to do the right thing and keep him but noooo, the world is run by a bunch of racist pricks. They know he's good, but you know how it is. Factory jobs are plentiful right now so he should have a lot of options but it's a waste of talent, I tell you. Maybe he should join the army, they could use him after all, repairing tanks or whatever. I don't think he would last long though. Zeff used to talk about the way people who were too soft in the Great War lost their minds in combat. All Zeff lost was his stupid leg, but anyway I feel like that's what would happen.

Happy birthday by the way. Too bad you have to spend it in a shitty prison camp. We threw a party in your honor but it wasn't the same. We just got drunk and tried to be happy, not very effectively I must say. Pretty depressing actually. 

Come back soon,

Sanji

XxxX

December 2, 1942

Love-cook,

I'm awesome with kids but I wish they didn't have to be here. It's so cold and we don't have much to do about it. Things have been tense here, something bad is going to happen I can tell. If I could bring Rika home with me I would but I think she's could her place. There's a woman who keeps coming to see her, she's put in a request to adopt her so it's only a matter if time. She's a nice lady though so everything's good. 

I did hear about Usopp. Hopefully by now he has a decent job. It's just a shame that there are so many racist pricks out there. If there weren't then Usopp would have a job and I would be back home. Usopp would be awful in the army. He'd run screaming all the way back home. Then again maybe he would surprise us all and become that hero he's always been telling us he was. 

I hate that I can't contact you guys immediately, the distance is killing me. That and this fucking cold weather. 

Trust me, I don't want to stay any longer than necessary.

Zoro

XxxX

The winter at Manzanar was harsh, temperatures were around 30 degrees Fahrenheit, with only the limited about of blankets and oil stove for warmth people fought over who got to sleep closest to the heat.

By this time manzanar had developed into it's own little government. People worked as block managers, stores owners, teachers, doctors, ect. However tensions were raising between the first generation Japanese and Japanese American Civilians League. JACL leaders were representatives for the administration and were disliked by many.

December fifth, Fred Tyama, leader of the JACL was beaten by six masked men. Harry Ueno was arrested for the crime and placed in a nearby jail despite a lack of evidence, about two thousand internees gathered in protest of the arrest and negotiated his release. Zoro avoided the event completely, he didn't want to be caught up in the politics of this shit, he had not the talent or patience for dealing with talkers. 

Ueno was placed back in the camp jail December sixth. Several thousand people then showed up wanting his release. When the crowd became violent the guards were authorized to use tear gas and then to open fire. One seventeen year old was killed instantly, eleven people were wounded, and a twenty one year old died five days later because of his wounds.

Zoro was not present at that event either but Mark was and he came back a wreck with watery, bloodshot eyes, and a haunted, disheartened expression on his face 

On January first the internees were allowed to hold a festival for Shogatsu. It was pretty low key but people had saved up money in order to buy lots of food. People with musical talent preformed in the newly built theater in the school. For the day everything seemed a little bit more pleasant. A small escape form the unpleasant world around them.

XxxX

Janruary 8, 1943

Shitty plant,

This whole situation sounds like child endangerment to me and fuck that. 

Whatever you do don't freeze to death, that sounds like a terrible way to die. Robin said that you said there was some sort of little riot. In my head when I picture riot I just think of some guy with a headband standing on a huge pile of bodies, shooting into the sky. Please tell me it wasn't like that. That's not even really a riot, more like a massacre. Whatever, in starting to ramble. 

Anyway, Usopp's sparkly new factory pays a lot less than his old job and is total bullshit. 

You feel so far away, we need some sort of instant messaging device so that we can talk to each other in real time. I'll tell Usopp he needs to invent that then maybe he could patent it and get above all this shit down here. 

Stay safe.

Sanji

XxxX

 

February

Every person over the age of seventeen was forced to take a loyalty test. To Zoro this soundedlike a lot of bullshit because after being held in a camp for nearly a year and being denied the freedom he deserved he was not feeling especially loyal. Who would?

On this test there were two questions that stood out to him;

Question 27: Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States on combat duty, wherever ordered?

Question 28: Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any and all attacks by foreign and domestic forces, and forswear any form of allegiance or disobedience to the Japanese Emperor, or any other foreign government, power, or organization?

Question 27 implied that he was allowed to serve in the military, which he was not, and currently he did not feel very much like risking his neck for a country that had him locked up for doing nothing. He answered no.

Question 28 implied that he had an allegiance to Japanese empire, Zoro had lived in America for many years and despite the way they were handling him he was on their side. He again answered no.

XxxX

February 25, 1943

Ero-cook,

Oddly enough the kids are dealing with this place better than the adults. Kids still have the ability to play when all the adults are sitting around looking sullen and cold. It's always cold here but something like the cold would be enough to kill me. 

Everything concerning the riot has resolved itself as far as the administrators are concerned. Two people died and maybe a dozen were injured. I wasn't there, politics is not my forte. 

When Usopp invents instant letters make sure to give me a call. He could become rich and famous then we would all live happily ever after. 

And I hope your proud of me because I've been listening to the radio and the Germans are getting their asses handed to them over in Russia. They surrendered at Stalingrad on the second. Take that nazi bastards. I'm so good at listening. 

I forgot to mention, this month everyone had to take a loyalty test. I don't know what will happen to us if we don't pass. Hopefully they won't shoot us or anything, that would be pretty shitty. 

And I hope your proud of me because I've been listening to the radio and the Germans are getting their asses handed to them over in Russia. They surrendered at Stalingrad on the second.

I probably won't be able to get a letter to you in time so happy early or late birthday.

Zoro

XxxX

March 21, 1943

My photosynthetic friend,

Kids are very resilient, it's just unfortunate that they have to be. So things aren't really better then. Just not violent. I'm sure it's just fucking great. 

Better yet I'll get Usopp to invent a fucking teleporter then we could bust you out of there and go to fucking Canada or something. Somewhere where they aren't harvesting Japanese people... Or any people really. 

What the fuck? How can they make a test for something like loyalty after keeping you locked up with no rights. They can't honestly expect you to feel unconditionally loyal right now. This is all ducking ridiculous, I swear. 

Wow, actually listening to current affairs as you should. Very good Marimo, I'm very proud of you. I know how much effort it must have taken to remember that amount of information with your tiny little moss brain. And just to add to this intelligent bit of information the axis are also getting slapped around in Africa. Things are definitely looking up over there, hopefully this war will be over soon and you will be out again. 

It was too late for my birthday. 

Sanji

XxxX

April 23, 1943

Swirly-Idiot,

People are still very unhappy here, you are correct but I don't think anything the administrations can do will fix it. Too much time in the fields for too little and being so far from family and homes makes people upset somehow. Hard to imagine why. 

As long as we are having Usopp invent things he may as well invent a spaceship too. That way we can be space pirates or something. I call being first mate. Space pirates have first mates, right? In a military sense, not some weird alien sex thing. 

I don't know what's going on around here but there's a rumor that they're going to move some of us. I don't know where to but I think it has something to do with that test I took. I just heard some guards talking about it but I don't know where they would send us. 

Fuck you.

Zoro

XxxX

May 12, 1943

Sword slinging bastard,

You've been gone a year and there's still no evidence of the war's end being anywhere in sight. Everyone misses you. I miss you a lot but I'm pretty drunk right now so don't feel to happy about that. Also, if you can't read this fucking shit it's because I can't hold a fucking pencil right apparently. 

A space ship would be the most fucking amazing thing to ever exist ever. As soon as we have a space ship well be the best god damn space pirates in the universe. I wanna be the awesome space cook. I would collect all sorts if awesome alien foods and make an intergalactic cookbook. 

Tell me when you know something for sure. I might die if you disappear. I'm going to go out this in the post box now, wish me luck. I just tripped on a fucking chair and smeared ink everywhere, that's why this stupid letter is covered in bullshit. Fuck. 

Sanji

XxxX

June 30, 1943

Blondie,

Don't drown yourself in booze, cook. I know it's hard to deal with life without me, but I'll be back before you know it. Hopefully, by I can't read the future, so what the fuck do I know?

Of all the things you could do with a space ship you want to zoom around in order to make a cook book. I don't even have words. 

Take me away from this oppressive heat, I'm pretty much drowning in sweat. Stupid people keep yelling at me and it's bullshit. 

Fucking, the post office closes in like five minutes so I can't say much now. 

Zoro

XxxX

 

July 17, 1943

Sanji,

I don't have your reply yet but they're going to start sending people away. I don't know where they're going or if I'm going with them. All I know is that they're sending away all the people who failed the loyalty test. There's a rumor that they're going to a camp somewhere up north. I doubt that they'll let us use the mail. I don't know when you'll hear from me next.

I miss you. 

Zoro

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Historical notes and stuff:
> 
> This part and the next chapter are the ones I feel least satisfied with. They kind of suck but I have too much to do to completely rework them so, I'm sorry for that :( Agh, this story is hideously undeveloped. 
> 
> I don't know how the post worked. I can only assume the army censored them and worked slowly to get messages sent either way. Also please ignore the fact that were this real life Zoro probably wouldn't be able to write in English for shit. He probably had little to no schooling so I don't know how he could write so eloquently. And that was sarcasm. Also please excuse me for not writing out every letter Zoro would have received from all of his friends because that sounds horribly tedious. 
> 
> Just thought I'd add that there was an orphanage at Manzanar with about one hundred children. At this orphanage there were apparently babies who had been taken out of foster care just because they had Japanese blood against the advice of those foster homes. 
> 
> I was once heard an army guy say that tear gas was like snot gas. It all comes pouring out of your nose. Sounds pretty terrible. 
> 
> German soldiers surrendered at Stalingrad despite Hitler's command to keep going. After that they were taken as prisoners. Many died, the rest were held for about ten years in a prison facility. No one can invade Russia during the winter... Except the Mongols. That's not to say the Russians did any better there, they shot down tons of their own soldiers for trying to flee. 
> 
> Loyaly tests were given out beginning in February 1943 and yes they were total bullshit.
> 
> Thanks.


	4. Fair Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zoro gets transferred and life continues to suck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's alright, this could be a rough night.  
> So hold tight, this is not a fair fight. 
> 
> -"Fair Fight" The Fray

July 20, 1943

Guards bust opened the door to Zoro's barracks grabbing him. One of the the guards was a man who openly hated Zoro and bothered him whenever possible.

"You're being transferred, Roronoa, get your stuff and we'll take you to the others," the guard smirked, poking Zoro in the chest. The others in the room stared at him. Alison placed a hand on his shoulder and offered a sad smile.

Zoro and a few thousand other people were taken from their barracks and placed on a train. There were more guards escorting them than there had been in previous ventures. The guards explained that they were being taken to Tule Lake Segregation Camp for failing the loyalty test.

XxxX

Tule Lake was much far bigger than Manzanar and the security was far more advanced. There were twenty-eight guard towers and three layers of barbwire fence. It also seemed to have twice as many guards. Guards with guns, guards with trucks, and guards with tanks.

The barracks however were just as uninviting. This time he had to share with eight new people, well technically it was like seven and a weird little bundle of cells but close enough. A family of three, the Nakanishi family, a couple in their late twenties with a pregnant wife, the Maki family, and a young woman about Zoro's age.

Just like in the other facilities Zoro tried to ignore everyone in favor of skulking around on his own. That is at first, he eventually got to know the young woman in his family unit. Tashigi was born in the United States. She had intended to join the army in some capacity when the war broke out but that obviously did not happen. What she really wanted was to be a police officer but the idea was ridiculous. A female police officer? Get real, not in this decade. Being a woman was bad enough, but being a Japanese woman did not help her chances any.

In the beginning Zoro tried to avoid her because she looked very much like his childhood enemy, Kuina. When he lived back in Japan he hung around a dojo and trained with the wooden swords. Kuina would beat him every single time. Then when he was eight she suddenly died before he could defeat her. He vowed to become the greatest swordsman in the world for her and carried her most precious sword. Sanji carried it now. 

Eventually got used to Tashigi and even though she was annoying he did not mind her so much. Tashigi worked as a server in a mess hall, much to her frustration. She felt like her talents could be utilized somewhere else, as in not a prison camp as a prisoner. If anything she felt that she should be a guard, she would do a better job than most of the jokers working at Tule Lake.

At this camp things were definitely more strict. Curfews were better enforced, leading to Zoro getting into a lot of trouble when he definitely did not get lost in the new compound. He was even held in the makeshift jail a few times. Also notable, the internees who had been held at Tule Lake did not like having the 'disloyal' prisoners in the camp. This lead to fighting between people. Most importantly to the green haired man, the post office was more restricted. He was able to send out a letter in early August:

Luffy and everyone,

I've been moved to Tule Lake with the other 'disloyal' prisoners here. That is why I have not replied to letters and mailing is very restricted here so don't expect much.

Zoro

XxxX

September 21, 1943

Marimo,

It's good to hear anything from you. By that I mean everyone else would be upset if we didn't hear from you again. After that last letter you sent I was thinking maybe you had been covertly executed or something like that. I honestly wouldn't be surprised and that is depressing as hell. 

This new place is probably worse than the last place seeing as you were taken there for being disloyal but tell me what it's like. I hope that you aren't being treated too terribly, only just terribly enough is fine though. 

Italy surrendered September 8, so I think this is where things start falling together. They can't shut you up in there for too much longer. I mean, they can't, right?

Sanji

XxxX

That autumn tensions began to raise as workers tried to fight for their rights in a very minor way. After a few incidents resulting in injury and death, some of the workers decided to go on strike. They were of course fired and replaced by 'loyal' strikebreaking workers brought in from other camps. They were paid in two days what a Tule Lake worker was paid in a month. Things were obviously not settled.

XxxX

October 29, 1943

Swirly-brow,

Not so much execution as transfer to a more secure facility to, you know, protect other people from me. Only because I'm Japanese, not because I can cut throats with my katanas. Maybe that's what they think I'll do. 

Here housing is about the same. I can't hang out at an orphanage here though, I just have to tolerate Tashigi for entertainment. The rules are stricter and I've been stuck in the holding cells a few times for fights and being out past curfew. It just feels more oppressive because the massive amount of armed guards. It doesn't help that people are trying to gain rights, a ridiculous idea I know, by striking. They say some administrator is going to come down to sort things out so maybe it's working but I get the feeling things will get worse before they get better. 

Things may be going well in Europe but they're not letting me out until all of Japan surrenders. I don't think that's going to happen for a while, I come from a nation of solid fighters. 

Zoro

XxxX

November 1, the WRA national director came to discuss workers' grievances. Around five thousand gathered around as a peaceful show of support. Zoro and Tashigi were part of the crowd. It was her idea to go but Zoro didn't mind if it might improve his working conditions.

Tension mounted when it seemed like nothing was getting done and three days later trucks were seen gathering to leave.

On their way back from dinner at the mess hall Zoro and Tashigi spotted a large group gathered around something. They appeared agitated but he could not see what was going on. He nudged a man beside him.

"What's going on?" He asked.

The man scowled. "The administrators are sending out supplies to the strikebreakers."

The crowd was starting to move forward when a one of the guards started yelling.

"Go back to your homes! If you do not disperse we will have to use force!"

Then more people started yelling too.

"What about us?! What about our rights?!"

"You can't make us do anything!"

"We want a quality life, you bastards."

A shot wrang out over the shouting. People started screaming and running. The army was suddenly upon them dragging people away, beating people who resisted, and causing chaos. Tashigi was swept away in the chaos, leaving Zoro lost in a writhing crowd. Suddenly a hand grabbed him by the hair and yanked him back. Instinctively he elbowed whoever it was in the gut, turned and socked the guy in the face. Another pair if arms grabbed at him, it took more than one person to wrestling him to the ground. He struggled and eventually righted himself when a he was whacked over the head very, very hard with some sort of blunt object, probably the butt of someone's gun. He went down and the world went dark.

XxxX

When Zoro blinked back into the world of the living he was laying on an uneven wooden floor. He recognized it after a moment. He was in the jail. There at least twenty other people he could see in the hastily constructed cells.

From the light coming through cracks in the walls it appeared to be early morning. He raised a hand to the back of his head, when he pulled back his hand there was dried blood. That must explain the pounding headache he was experiencing.

One of the men in his cell turned to him, "Hey, the doctors came in here earlier to give you stitches and said you were okay, but I was starting to think maybe you died," he laughed nervously.

"What happened?" Zoro asked, his voice rough. His ears were ringing and his stomach flopped as he sat up.

"When people started gathering the administrations called in the army. The WRA employees are really freaked out, they want to build a fence to separate them from us."

Zoro scoffed, "Seriously?"

The man nodded. "They don't want to be near us violent heathens," he grumbled. 

Off to one of the sides a guard's voice wrang out telling them to shut the fuck up and they were quiet after that, Zoro's head was throbbing badly anyway. 

XxxX

November 14, martial law was declared. All previous 'luxuries' were taken away. There was a strict curfew, regular barrack searches, and normal activities were not available. Zoro did not experience these changes immediately as he was busy being held in military custody with no trial and having not really done much. Habeas Corpus anyone? He was finally released December fifteenth. His housemates thought he had been transferred to an actual jail and were glad to see him again. 

Unfortunately, the military had completely cut off his access to the mail so he had no link to his friends at home. He was alone except for his tenitive friends in the compound. 

That winter was probably one the worst Zoro had experienced. With so many people in the camp there were shortages of food, hot water, and fuel to heat the barracks. Not only that but the pregnant woman had her baby December twenty seventh. The baby barely made it, the hospital was not exactly very well equip. Luckily though both mother and daughter made in and returned a few days later. The baby kept everyone awake with her constant crying, everyone was sleep deprived and frustrated. They fought often.

XxxX

January 15, military control ended at which point men started to be drafted, if they were 'loyal' of course. Some people were so upset they refused to get a physical. When men and women started to leave for the military most, if not all, were Nisei and they were going to fight in an all Japanese battalion. Sometimes people talked about these army groups. They were mostly made up of boys from Hawaii, where there were no internment camps. They had visited some of the camp back on the mainland so some people had met them first hand before they were moved to Tule Lake. They were slightly controversial in the camps. Some people were glad that these men were standing up to the Japanese and others could not understand how they could fight for a country which treated them as criminals when they had committed no crime.

As soon as he was able to Zoro went to the post office, which had been reopened to internees.

XxxX

Janruary 20, 1944

Everyone,

The camp was under martial law and I was not able to send or receive letters. I'm fine now, everything's okay. At least as okay as it can be. 

Wish I were there.

Zoro

XxxX

A few days later he was delivered a large stack of letters that had been withheld from him:

November 17, 1943

Moron,

They lock you up because you're so scary, just look at your face. I wouldn't blame them for locking you up for that bloodthirsty look in your eye but this is unforgivable. 

I'm sure the kids miss you terribly. Who's Tashigi? Don't tell me you managed to make a friend. And, wow, just the thought of you guys having rights is mind boggling. What's next, the termination of internment camps? What a crime that would be. 

That's another birthday you've missed, jackass. At this rate it's going to become "drown yourself in booze day" instead of Zoro's birthday. To be fair it's probably what you would have wanted.

Sanji

XxxX

December 20, 1943

Zoro,

No one has received a letter since early November. So, either they cut off you mailing rights or you're dead. Don't be dead. I'm mostly just writing this to make myself feel better so just humor me. I just feel a little out of balance with the world.

Please don't be dead.

Sanji

XxxX

January 1, 1944

Hey asshole,

I swear to god if you don't start sending back letters soon I'm going to lose it. I'm wasting money on fucking stamps for you, you ungrateful mother fucker. 

I miss you, you fucking bastard.

Sanji

XxxX

January 25, 1944

Sanji,

I'm sorry I haven't written you in so long, I really couldn't. They shut down access to the post office under marshal law. I just got all your letters. I'm not dead, I promise. 

Tashigi is one of the people in my family unit. She forces me to be around people sometimes. It's a real inconvenience, everyone else leaves me alone. 

I hope my not writing hasn't made you too crazy but you were already halfway gone when I left so I don't hold out much hope of that. 

Zoro

XxxX

February 19, 1944

Zoro,

This seriously makes me want to scream. I want you home now, bastard. They better not end the mail again or I might accidentally kill myself in the suspense of waiting for your letters to return.

What's she like? Why do you insist on being so vague about things? 

What has been going on in there?

I assure you I am one hundred percent crazy, but I was, as you say, mostly that way before you left. 

Sanji

XxxX

March 17, 1944

Cook,

If it were up to me I would be there right now, trust me. 

Tashigi is annoying, strong headed, and clumsy but she knows a thing or two about swords. Not that she's anywhere near my level but she's better than everyone else here. 

It's settled down in here a little. Sort of gone back to the way it was before. So, still shitty but it could be worse.

Zoro

XxxX

April 28, 1944

Shitty moss head,

Luffy has been drafted as you may know or not depending on the mailing rate. I can't believe it. Luffy is an amazing fighter but I don't think the military will be suited to him. In the very least they'll have a hell of a time trying to control him. He leaves the May thirtieth, so I doubt you'll get this in time. That's another friend gone, for now that is. He'll definitely be back, this is Luffy we're talking about after all. 

And you shouldn't insult a fine lady, I am very sorry that she has to deal with you. Very sorry. 

Sanji

XxxX

May 26, 1944

Blondie,

I didn't know about Luffy. He'll be alright, I'm surprised that he has lasted so long without being drafted. I bet he'll make his way into the navy, he always did like boats. Some of the people here have been drafted too. A lot of people are upset. Everything just seems pretty shit right now.

Lovely lady my ass.

Zoro

XxxX

June 25, 1944

Plant head,

You were right about the navy. He's been shipped off to the pacific to fight the Japanese. It's pretty sick to draft people to fight for a country that's imprisoning them. It probably can't get too much worse, right?

There is good news from my home country. There was a successful attack on the shore of Normandy on June sixth. That's another punch in Hitler's stupid face. Serves him right for having a stupid Charlie Chaplin mustache. Also he's kind of a huge fascist, nazi bastard but having a mustache and no other facial hair is also just stupid.

You better get back here so I can kick your ass for that insult to fair lady Tashigi. 

Sanji

XxxX

July 18, 1944

Fuck face,

Luffy will kick serious ass over there on the Japanese front. 

Fucking France, why did they have to suck so badly at not being invaded. Why are you French people such shitty fighters? Now everyone else has to save poor France. 

Also what the fuck do you have against plain mustaches? You have a stupid fucking goatee thing so you aren't really one to talk. 

I dare you to come kick my ass, I'd way rather deal with you than the screaming baby I'm currently taking care of. She never stops.

Zoro

XxxX

August 31, 1944

Jackass,

Hey, fuck you. You know, given that you're locked up in a fucking prison because you're Japanese I would think you would be a bit less of a racist bastard. France is a beautiful country filled with art, culture, and lots of awesome shit, which includes the Baratie. And also as of the twenty-fifth France has been liberated. So there. 

And plain mustaches just bother me, okay? My goatee is fucking the best, thank you very much. You would look stupid with green facial hair. 

Who the fuck let you take care of their baby!?

Sanji

XxxX

September 15, 1944

Monsieur shit-at-everything,

Yippee, the French are free. I really hope you can feel my sarcasm because I really mean it.

My green beard would be the best thing in existence but I hate having a scratchy face. 

One of the families in my unit had a kid in December she had to stay late at work and everyone was out at dinner so I had to watch her. I am perfectly capable of taking care of a baby, thank you very much.

Sooo, just thought I'd ask, have you acquired any new girlfriends while I've been away. Not that I'd really care. I'm just trying to imagine what it's like back there and this is an important bit of information for this project. Very important. 

Zoro

XxxX

October 13, 1944

Smartass-kun,

Did you really make the conscious decision to write out the word "yippee"? And you can shove that sarcasm up your ass. Why are you hating on France so much?

Do they really have the facilities to give a baby proper care?

Well, if you must ask, and it is definitely none of your business. No, I love all my ladies indiscriminately. There is no one better than another. And I can already predict the answer to this question but I feel I must ask. What about you?

Yippee ki-yay,

Sanji

XxxX

October 19, 1944

Fuck Zoro, Chopper's missing. We think he went to join the army. He's only sixteen! What if something happens to him? He's just a kid, a kid shouldn't have to see the horrors of war, especially not Chopper. I mean it was really frustrating for him knowing that so many out there were being hurt and there was nothing he could do but I didn't expect this.

Sanji

XxxX

November 20, 1944

Curly-brow,

Fuck, of course he would do something like this. His heart is too big for his own good but there's nothing we can do now. Chopper may be a kid but he can hold his own. All we can do is hope he gets out okay, I guess.

The hospital here isn't great at dealing with babies but it gets by, just like everything else here.

Yeah, yeah, when it comes to the ladies you're a real stand up guy. And no, I don't need the presence of others in order to get by.

Zoro

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have I mentioned yet that there were also German and Italian people in internment camps? There were far less of them but still some. 
> 
> Habeas Corpus says you can report unjust imprisonment, sometime that writ still isn't followed.... But that's a complicated and controversial topic. 
> 
> Tule Lake War Relocation Center/Segregation Camp was opened May 27, 1942 and closed March 20, 1946. It became a sort of maximum security prison july 15, 1943 in order to hold 'disloyal' Japanese Americans. Population peaked at about 18,700, it was the largest of the camps.
> 
> I had to mention the 100th infantry battalion, 522nd field artillery battalion, and the 442nd regimental combat team. The 100th was made up of Nisei from Hawaii and they had an amazing record leading to the creation of the other two. These men had to deal with some serious bullshit. They were considered expendable so they were put in dangerous situations. So many were killed or injured it became known as the Purple Heart battalion. The Purple Heart is an award given out if a person is injured or killed due to battle related wounds. Daniel Inoe was amazing though, a super amazing senator. That's something you don't see often, although I don't actually know his political affiliations so I may retract that statement later.
> 
> On TV shows people get knocked out left, right, and center. I just want you to know that if you get hit hard enough to pass out there has probably been some damage done. I don't know how they treated concussions in the 40s though.
> 
> And I'm sorry I was so mean to France. It's an awesome place but for some reason every time I hear people talking about it they're making fun of the French government. 
> 
> Thanks.


	5. Hold My Hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Public Proclamation 22 is set to be enacted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hold my hand,  
> I can hear the ghost calling.  
> And help me stand,  
> Even if the sky is falling.  
> And I want you to know,  
> I can't do it alone.  
> Hold my hand, my hand, my hand.
> 
> -"Hold My Hand" The Fray

December 17, public proclamation twenty-one declared that effective in January of the following year people would start to be released from internment camps. Initially people were excited that they would not have to live in prison camps anymore but this news also caused a panic to sweep through the camp. A creeping fear of sorts. What was going to happen to them? Many of them had been living in places like Tule Lake for over two years, most of them had lost all of their things when they left. They did not have much, if anything, to go back to.

Two days later the Supreme Court made a ruling on the case of Korematsu v. United States. This was the case that decided the constitutionality of the internment camps. The judges ruled six to three that the president did not overstep his authority in this situation. Although they were being released they would not get justice for their unjust imprisonment.

XxxX

December 23, 1944

Marimo,

Holy shit, you're going to get out. Finally! It probably won't be immediate but still, it can't take too long.

Still no word from Chopper but Luffy wrote us about how insane things are over there, and Franky says there are some seriously not super things going on in Europe but he wouldn't say what. There have been some pretty sick rumors about what the Nazis have been doing but it may just be anti-Nazi propaganda, I don't know. It's hard to tell. I wish they could just give it to us straight. I can take the truth... Then again not everyone can.

I hope the bastards who stuck you in that place feel really fucking bad.

Sanji

XxxX

January 16, 1945

Cook,

They're going to start interviewing people to go home soon, according to the administrators. There are a lot of people here so it's going to take forever to get through everyone.

Hopefully everyone will come home soon. The war doesn't seem like it can last too much longer. I haven't heard much about what's going on, just some random battle tactics and shit I don't understand. You might be able to take the truth but then you might question the government's actions and they wouldn't want that. The truth is out there, you just have to find it under all that spin and propaganda.

You and me both.

Zoro

XxxX

Before leaving the internees were interviewed about whether or not they wanted to keep their citizenship. Many did not out of anger, some renounced their citizenship out of concern about being separated from their families because of deportation. If they changed their minds they were met by limited cooperation.

In the beginning there were few to leave the camp, but when they were released to go home, they were given twenty-five dollars and a one way bus ticket to anywhere in the country. There were a few who refused to leave, kicking and screaming because they had nowhere to go back to, this had become their home.

XxxX

February 24, 1945

Shitty-Marimo,

They better hurry it up because I'm very impatient.

I got a letter from Patty and Carne. It's the first letter I've had from home since this whole war thing started. I just wish it brought good news. Zeff was killed by German soldiers when France was being liberated. The people in the capital rose up to fight and though I'm sure he put up a hell of a fight, Zeff was shot twice in the chest and died. They didn't find him until three days later. Things are so disorganized over there they didn't have time to write me. Apparently he didn't leave me anything anyway. Fucking bastard, I won't miss him anyway.

Sanji

XxxX

March 19, 1945

Sanji,

Dammit, I'm sorry for your loss. He probably went out in a blaze of glory. Just because he didn't leave you anything doesn't mean he didn't care. From what I've heard about him he was just a tuff love kind of guy, he wouldn't want you to get a bunch of shit that reminded you of how dead he was. Don't agonize over this like I know you're already doing. Everything will turn out okay, I promise.

Stay sane a little while longer,

Zoro

XxxX

When Zoro was interrogated it was April 5. He was in one of the staff building, which were much nicer than the barracks.

A man dressed in military outfit walked in with a stern look on his face. He looked vaguely familiar but the Japanese man could not quite place who he was and assumed his was just one of the guards who he often saw on patrol.

The man looked down at a chart in his hands, "Zoro Roronoa. You immigrated from Japan at age fourteen and arrived here by failing the loyalty test, you have also had a good deal of trouble with the rules around here," he looked up with a glare, "Do you wish to stay here in America?"

"Yes," Zoro answered with a nod.

"Well, that is unfortunate because you are being deported. On November 15 you will be sent back to Japan, until then you will be staying here in the camp." The man gave sick grin.

Zoro felt his heart clench and for a moment he was filled with dread. Only for a moment because it was quickly replaced with rage. He lunged across the table and grabbed the guy by the front of his shirt. That was when he recognized his interviewer was one of the men he had beamed in the face during the little riot back in November.

Instead of waiting for Zoro to throw the first punch the officer smashed the blunt side of his gun against the side of his face, shocking him enough to loosen his grip and stumble slightly to the right. While his opponent was stunned gave him a kick to the chest. Unfortunately for him Zoro knew all too well how to deal with weak kicks and grabbed the guy's leg, then knocking him off his feet. In his rage he jumped on the guy.

Somewhere in the tussle the guy managed to grab his gun and detach his bayonet. He swung the sharp blade and cut through the skin of Zoro's face, a straight clean line over his left eye. Grabbing at his face he just barley managed to hold back a scream. Seconds later more guards burst through the door probably to break up the fight. They dragged the two to separate sides of the room.

"He attacked me!" shouted the man, breathing heavily.

"We have to get this guy to the hospital," said one of the guys who had Zoro. He looked slightly sick.

They worked quickly, they dragged the frantic officer out of the room and dragged Zoro to his feet roughly. They ran him out front and hopped into a car, which they drove down to the hospital.

The Tule Lake hospital was somewhere Zoro had only been in one other time, he tried to avoid hospitals. It was large enough and the doctors rushed around frantically trying to treat every person who came in. Obviously the profuse bleeding put the swordsman at the top of their list.

He was taken to what he assumed was the surgery section and gave him something that knocked him out cold.

When he came to there was a woman talking to him.

"Roronoa-san, can you hear me? Wake up," she told him.

Zoro groaned in response opening his eyes, or rather he tried to open his eyes but only succeeding with one.

"Relax, you just came from surgery. The doctors tried to save your eye, remember?"

He nodded, a movement which he regretted as it made him feel quite sick, "And did they?"

The woman, who he now assumed to be a nurse due to to her nurse outfit, frowned, "Unfortunately no, we had to sew your eye shut. You will never be able to use it again."

The loss of his eye felt like a small worry when compared with the idea that he would not be going back to his friends.

"When can I get out of here?" He asked impatiently, he had always hated hospitals.

The nurse seemed surprised, "We can release you after a day of observation but you have to be kept with at least two guards at a time," she glanced back at the guards who Zoro had not noticed lurking in the shadows.

"Just get me out of here as soon as possible."

He was released the next day but instead of going home he was taken to the prison. Instead of arresting him and going through an investigation that would probably call into question the mental state of one of their officers the army had decided to hold him, and others like him for as long as necessary, then he would be sent off to Japan and they would not have to deal with him anymore.

Someone was sent in every day to change his bandages but his wound got infected anyway, made obvious by the massive swelling in his face. He spent a few days back in the hospital slightly delirious with a high fever. In the height of delusion he thought he was back home with his friends but they melted away in front of him. It took many doctors to keep him down and after that he was restrained.

For a while the doctors were worried about the infection reaching his brain but after long few days the fever broke and he was sent back to his cell.

XxxX

April 12, President Roosevelt died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage, leaving his Vice President Harry Truman as president. From what he gathered from the guards and people who came and went, no one had much faith in this new guy.

XxxX

May 7, Germany signed an unconditional surrender. The war with Germany was over. Now the United States was focused on only japan.

Zoro could hear people celebrating from his cell and some people came in later that day to tell them about the broadcast.

XxxX

July 19, they let him out on good behavior but more because they wanted more room in their cells and he wasn't their most seemingly dangerous inmate.

Zoro walked calmly toward his home, dust kicking up around his feet. It was early morning so everyone would probably still be inside. When he eventually got there he opened the door as quietly as possible. He saw Tashigi sitting on her cot, reading a book. When she heard the door open her head jerked up.

"Zoro!" she exclaimed jumping to her feet, "What happened to your face?" She stared at the now mostly healed scar over his eye. Over the past few months he had gotten used to only one eyes worth of vision. Two eyes were overrated.

"Guard stabbed me in the face with a bayonet at my interview," he said crossing his arms, "I'm being deported."

Tashigi's eyes widened, "W-what!? What did you do to let that happen? They can't deport you! You're a citizen."

"Yeah well apparently that doesn't matter, and I hadn't done anything yet, he attacked me. Although I probably would have broken his nose given a few more seconds. He was one of the guys I took down back in that riot," he grumbled, "Where's everyone else?" He looked around at the empty beds.

She shook her head, "These men have no honor. The Maki family left in March and the Nakanishis went to get out early to meet somebody,"

"Have you been interviewed yet?" He asked.

"Not yet, I have to go in tomorrow actually, hopefully it goes better than yours did," she scowled, "Isn't there any way to fight this decision?"

The green haired scoffed, "Who would listen to me on this? No one cares what happens to us."

Tashigi grit her teeth but said nothing. She could not help but feel the same way. Shaking herself she walked over to her cot and pulled out a stack of letters from underneath.

"Here," she said, "I kept your mail for you. Your friends are probably worried about you. If I had known what was going on I would have written them myself," she handed over the stack, "Anyway, I'm going to breakfast, I'll see you later," and with that she left him alone to read his letters. Zoro strode over to his cot and sat down to read.

XxxX

April 24

Green alien,

Franky revealed to us some of what was going on under Nazi control. They're taking undesirables, mostly Jews, loading them up into camps and basically working them to death. It shares a horrifying symmetry with the camps here but on a much more extreme and horrific scale. He said they killed all the kids under twelve except the ones they experimented. It sounds fucking horrifying.

Don't apologize for Zeff's death asshole, I hate it when people do that, it doesn't make sense and I can't help but agonize. What the fuck else am I going to do? I'm stuck here doing fuck all while people I care about are dying. Everyone is being supportive but I don't think they really know what to say. I feel awful and you aren't here to punch me in the face for being a whiny bitch about it. When are you coming back? I need you.

Sanji

XxxX

June 3, 1945

Zoro,

Please tell me that my letter was lost in transport, not that you're being denied mailing rights again. It would be even better if you were on your way here now but I feel like that's not what's happening.

Sanji

XxxX

The Japanese man stared at his stack of letters a feeling of dread creeping over him. He wondered if he should really tell them what was going on. It would be hard on them and from the sounds of it Sanji was already a mess but if he did not know what would happen if he waited to tell them. They might cut off the mail again and they would never know what happened to him and that seemed worse.

XxxX

Love-cook,

What they're doing is sick. It almost makes be grateful that I'm here. Almost. They better get those Nazi bastards and make them pay for this shit.

You can bet your ass I'm mentally punching you right now. I hope that by now you're feeling a lightly less lost. You are a strong person you can get through this.

I wasn't able to write because I was being held in jail and they kept delivering to the house. If you can call it a house. I wish I had better news but I am being deported in November. There's nothing I can do.

Don't freak out.

Zoro

XxxX

Zoro was immediately thrown back into work in the sweltering heat. It was still better than being locked up, in his cell all he could do was a limited amount of training restricted by the tight space. The general mood was slightly lighter most likely due to the fact that the end of their imprisonment was near but it was far from cheerful

The next day Tashigi went off to her interview. Zoro sincerely hoped she would get to go home soon. She had progress to make after all. When they met up again she was beaming.

"I'm leaving on the twenty-ninth, only nine days left of prison," she stated with a bitter smile, "I just wish we were both getting out."

Zoro shrugged, "Eh, nothing we can do about it."

Nine days later they were standing in front of the barracks they had called home for far too long. Zoro in his work clothes and Tashigi carrying all of her belongings.

The dark haired woman stuck out her hand, "It's been nice, Zoro, but I can't say I'm sad to go."

The other took her hand and gave it a firm shake, "If you were I would question your sanity."

She chuckled, "Well, this is it," she dropped his hand, "Live a good life, be happy."

"Yeah, yeah, you too," Zoro waved her off. He didn't think he would every get to be happy if he had to go back to japan.

With a final sad smile she turned and walked toward the bus that was taking a group of people down to the train station. And that was the last he would see of her, ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Infections in the face are the worst. So much swelling and there's the threat that it will go into your brain but you have to sit in the emergency room for like seven hours and you feel horrible...
> 
> Assaulting an officer of the law can be one to ten years in prison but I think they would rather send him away back to Japan than deal with the paperwork.
> 
> In Germany, near the end, the drafting age was lowered all the way down to 13. That is pretty horrible. Germany was not a great place to be in the 40s.
> 
> Thanks to Mary_Nine for being my beta :)
> 
> Thanks.


	6. Cave In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's up with Sanji?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If the bombs go off the sun will still be shining  
> The sun will still be shining  
> Because I've heard it said that  
> Every mushroom cloud has a silver lining  
> Though I'm always undermining too deep to know
> 
> -"Cave In" Owl City

July 20, 1945

Sanji got up and went to work just like he did every day. He felt more and more like he was just going through the motions. Zeff had been dead for months and it still felt like a raw wound open, and bleeding but he was getting better. It annoyed him that it got to him so much, he hadn't seen the old man in years, so why was he so upset?

He had not heard from Zoro in a few months. Every time he stopped writing the blond feared the worst and dreaded that if he were dead no one would tell him and he would just be lost forever.

Cooking still managed to keep him together. Despite all of the uncertainty in his life he still had this outlet. If he didn't have that who knows what would have happened, nothing good to be sure.

His days seemed to stretch on forever. He worried too much about his far away companions. Hopefully Franky and maybe Chopper would return soon. They had only received one letter from Chopper, apparently just before he was going to be shipped over to Europe. That was months ago.

When he arrived back in his apartment the blond chef immediately threw himself onto his couch. His eyes fell to three beautiful swords sitting on his shelf. He felt a lump in his throat whenever he looked at them but their owner would surely be back to claim them soon so there was really no need to be upset. Not that this helped much, he always had been prone to rather extreme highs and lows emotionally.

Around five that night the phone started wringing, startling Sanji out of a nap.

He stretched before jumping up to get the receiver, but not before smashing his shin into his wooden coffee table and swearing like a sailor, "Allo?" He asked breathlessly, rubbing his shin.

"Ah, Mr. Cook," came Robin's calm voice, "I think you had better come over here immediately. Chopper has returned to us," without a goodbye she hung up, very dramatic indeed.

Relief washed over the blond like a soothing stream of water, Chopper was alive. He ran out the door and took the closest cable car over to Robin's apartment.

Robin lived in a nicer part of the city in a slightly larger apartment. Sanji rushed up to her place and knocked on the door, Usopp was there to open it. He looked slightly unsettled causing a start of apprehension to prickle at the Frenchman.

Usopp gave a small smile, "Everyone else is already here." Great, he had been last to join the party. 

Everyone was indeed already there. Robin, Nami, Brook, and Chopper sat around Robin's dining table.

Chopper looked pale, his fists were clenched and he stared down at them, avoiding eye contact. The kid looked traumatized but not too terribly different. No horrible wounds were apparent on his person, the only real change was his hair was cropped unusually short in a way that did not suit him at all. It looked too... military and Chopper was only a child. 

Sanji wanted to scoop the kid up and hug the life out of him but he had a feeling that that would probably not be a very good thing to do. So instead he took a seat between Brook and Robin. When he had seated himself, Robin placed a hand on one of Chopper's clenched fists making him flinch.

"Chopper, tell us what happened," she said soothingly.

The kid took a deep breath, "Um, well, I ran off and joined the army, as you know. I had ten weeks of training, to be a medic you're supposed to have sixteen weeks but they sent us out early. We were stationed over in Germany," he paused, his eyes starting to water, "So many people died, it was horrible. I had to step over dead bodies to get to the living ones. My squad was very nice though, they looked out for me because I was the youngest. When we pushed farther into Germany we ran into a place called Buchenwald," his tears were flowing freely now and he was choking on sobs, "They locked people up and made them work. When they died they made them pile up the bodies in furnaces and burned them. The people were so malnourished they looked like skeletons. I've never seen anything so terrible. We tried to treat as many as we could but there were way too many. It's the only time I saw our squad leader, Law, look unsettled. We kept moving forward and when Germany surrendered we fought off some of the people who resisted then we were sent home to be discharged. It was horrible but I don't regret doing it, we helped a lot of people," he sniffed wearily. 

Chopper remembered when the truck was driving through the flat green of the East German countryside. His squad had been rushed in after Buchenwald was liberated on April 11, to take care of the sick. There wasn't any clear report that described how horrifying it would be but there were rumors.

As the truck approached a horrible stench assaulted their Chopper's nose. He was not sure what it was at first but later discovered it was the hovering scent of burned bodies as it lingered in the air. The barbwire fence surrounding the camp still held people with gaunt faces some smiling and waving at the passingmedics and others staring off listlessly. It was a sobering sight and it only got worse from there. 

When they entered the camp they were instructed to clean up the SS barracks in order to set up a make shift hospital. The Waffen-SS, or Schutzstaffel, were elite 'pure Arian' officers who ran the death camps. Their barracks had been very well kept and clean, just like the officers who lived in them in stark contrast to the condition of the prisoners. After the liberation of Buchenwald the prisoners had ransacked the place, destroying things and sneering feces on the walls.

These prisoners were not just Jewish, there were people from everywhere from Canada to Asia and everywhere in between. Upon arriving the squad set out to search for American GIs but found none. They did find American outfits, coins, and other materials so they had been there but they had probably been dealt with swiftly.

Once the barracks were cleaned up they started taking in as many patients as they could. Diseases like typhus raged in this place. The living conditions were filthy and without access to any soap or any manner of cleaning device the prisoners were lousy with lice. Lice have a nasty habit of carrying typhus, they also cause scabies. Others had other manner of disease caused by malnutrition. They had to hand feed many people who were too weak to do so on their own and wash people by hand to get rid of the lice. The people were all unbelievably thin, what little cloths they had hanging off their bodies. Their numbers tattooed against their concave stomachs. Despite all their best efforts many, many people died. The typhus was so bad they had to keep people from returning from wherever they had some and had to burn down typhus contaminated huts.

Chopper learned many horrible things that the German officers had done to the living prisoners as well as the dead. They made lamp shades out of skin, they looted corpses, made soap out of their fats, made shrunken heads of people, and much more. It was disgustingly creative as well as monstrously disturbing.

The SS officers were forced to dig and carry dead bodies into mass graves, sending them tumbling in broken motion to the bottom of the pit like rubbery dolls. They were doing the work they had forced others to do. The Allied officers gathered up Germans from the surrounding towns to come and see what had been going on under Nazi rule. They claimed no knowledge of what had take place. They knew, of course they knew, but they tried not to think about it and carried on with their little lives. It was too unpleasant. 

It was all so sad. Sad wasn't the right word for it horrifyingly grotesque was more like it. There was an unmeasurable amount of suffering in that place. Chopper had seen so much but he was still only a kid and he would have to carry those memories for the rest of his life. The war had destroyed so much. Ruined so many things. Killed so many people. But Chopper was alive and being held in the open arms of his friends. He would heal but only with time and love. 

XxxX

August 6, Sanji finally received a letter from Zoro. When he read this letter he felt like the world was dropping out from under him. He took a shaking breath trying to calm himself. Always quick to anger he kicked one of his chairs into a wall, effectively breaking it. It did not help. Sanji felt like he was helplessly being swept away from all the things he cared about. Zoro wasn't coming back.

Coincidentally, Sanji's perceived world was not the only thing being destroyed on that day. Elsewhere the American forces were gaining ground in the war on japan. In order to end the war an atomic bomb is dropped on the city of Hiroshima at 8:15 am on that day. This news was broadcast over the radio by president Trumam.

"Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima and destroyed its usefulness to the enemy. That bomb had more power than 20,000 tons of TNT. It had more than two thousand times the blast power of the British "Grand Slam" which is the largest bomb ever yet used in the history of warfare.

"The Japanese began the war from the air at Pearl Harbor. They have been repaid many fold. And the end is not yet. With this bomb we have now added a new and revolutionary increase in destruction to supplement the growing power of our armed forces. In their present form these bombs are now in production and even more powerful forms are in development.  
It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe. The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East.

"Before 1939, it was the accepted belief of scientists that it was theoretically possible to release atomic energy. But no one knew any practical method of doing it. By 1942, however, we knew that the Germans were working feverishly to find a way to add atomic energy to the other engines of war with which they hoped to enslave the world. But they failed. We may be grateful to Providence that the Germans got the V-1's and V-2'slate and in limited quantities and even more grateful that they did not get the atomic bomb at all. The battle of the laboratories held fateful risks for us as well as the battles of the air, land, and sea, and we have now won the battle of the laboratories as we have won the other battles.

"Beginning in 1940, before Pearl Harbor, scientific knowledge useful in was pooled between the United States and Great Britain, and many priceless helps to our victories have come from that arrangement. Under that general policy the research on the atomic bomb was begun. With American and British scientists working together we entered the race of discovery against the Germans.

"The United States had available the large number of scientists of distinction in the many needed areas of knowledge. It had the tremendous industrial and financial resources necessary for the project and they could be devoted to it without undue impairment of other vital war work. In the United States the laboratory work and the production plants, on which a substantial start had already been made, would be out of reach of enemy bombing, while at that time Britain was exposed to constant air attack and was still threatened with the possibility of invasion. For these reasons Prime Minister Churchill and President Roosevelt agreed that it was wise to carry on the project here. We now have two great plants and many lesser works devoted to the production of atomic power. Employment during peak construction numbered 125,000 and over 65,000 individuals are even now engaged in operating the plants. Many have worked there for two and a half years. Few know what they have been producing. They see great quantities of material going in and they see nothing coming out of these plants, for the physical size of the explosive charge is exceedingly small. We have spent two billion dollars on the greatest scientific gamble in history - and won.  
But the greatest marvel is not the size of the enterprise, its secrecy, nor its cost, but the achievement of scientific brains in putting together infinitely complex pieces of knowledge held by many men in different fields of science into a workable plan. And hardly less marvelous has been the capacity of industry to design and of labor to operate, the machines and methods to do things never done before so that the brainchild of many minds came forth in physical shape and performed as it was supposed to do. Both science and industry worked under the direction of the United States Army, which achieved a unique success in managing so diverse a problem in the advancement of knowledge in an amazingly short time. It is doubtful if such another combination could be got together in the world. What has been done is the greatest achievement of organized science in history. It was done under pressure and without failure.

"We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the Japanese have above ground in any city. We shall destroy their docks, their factories, and their communications. Let there be no mistake; we shall completely destroy Japan's power to make war.

"It was to spare the Japanese people from utter destruction that the ultimatum of July 26 was issued at Potsdam. Their leaders promptly rejected that ultimatum. If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth. Behind this air attack will follow sea and land forces in such number that and power as they have not yet seen and with the fighting skill of which they are already well aware."

The message went on to talk about how this weapon would be used to usher in a new era of peace. Unfortunately the path to peace had to be bathed in blood, as most were.

The justification was that it had to be done to save American lives. People were afraid that if they continued and had to invade the mainland of Japan it would be another situation like the battle on Okinawa. Really the Japanese forces were running thin, they were considering surrender for the first time and the soviets had agreed to attack japan.

The soviets were another factor in this calculation. The Americans wanted to show off this shiny new weapon they had to scare the soviets. Stalin, of course, already knew about the weapon thanks to numerous spies but no one had seen the full extent of the destruction it caused.

If the Americans did not want to invade they could have changed the terms of surrender from unconditional to letting them keep their emperor like they wanted (which they ended up doing anyway). Instead the Enola Gay dropped Little Boy on Hiroshima and Boxcar dropped Fat Man on Nagasaki. At Hiroshima 70,000 died and another 70,000 were injured. The numbers are not exactly set in stone because so many were killed. Some people were totally gone, leaving only an atomic shadow on the pavement to mark their place. At Nagasaki 40,000 were killed. The cities were destroyed, after the bomb went off firesraged above, the uneven terrain creating cyclones of fire.

People were given no warning or if they were it was not taken seriously, the bomb siren was not even going off because they thought they were weather planes flying over. One flash of light and a nuclear explosion later and the city was destroyed.

The places targeted were made out to be military bases but they were at least 80 percent civilian. Not to mention they dropped the bombs in the middle of the cities instead of on the actual bases.

The people who decided to drop these things gave little mind to what would happen to the civilians. Radiation poisoning and body burns affected those who lived through it. Was it really justified, though? It's hard to be sure and hindsight is 20/20.

XxxX

August 6, 1945

Zoro,

Fuck off, how am I supposed to not freak out? You're basically telling me that I'll never see you again. How can they do this? I thought sending you home meant your actual home. Not your perceived home seen through the eyes of a bunch of old racist white guys. I can't even believe this.

I just heard on the radio that they dropped a massive bomb on japan. I hope this means the war is nearly over. Chopper came home a week or two ago, I don't know if someone already told you. He's so shaken up, the things he saw I can only imagine and if I imagine them I feel sick. Franky is supposed to be getting back here in the next few days too.

Please, please tell me that you were under some sort of misconception when you sent that last letter. You better not fucking leave.

Sanji

XxxX

Three days later presumably because japan refused to surrender another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki at 11:02 am.

XxxX

Franky returned to them August 18. He was in much better shape than Chopper, but not because he had it any easier. He managed to stay alive the in a war that had been raging nearly four years. He had seen many comrades die.

Franky was first sent out with the 102nd Infantry Division to France, then to the German-Netherlands border. They battled their way into Germany with every step they took.

The most horrible thing he saw was, on April 15, 1945 they stumbled upon the atrocity at Gardelegen. Near a town in northern Germany a massacre occurred two days before the Americans stumbled upon it by chance. The bodies had not yet all been buried.

Knowing that the Americans were coming the SS officers had taken about 1,016 slave laborers from the Mittelbau-Dora labor camp and shut them in barn. They were supposed to be transported to another camp, but were instead thrown into a barn with gasoline soaked straw. And then the barn was on fire. Prisoner who tried to dig themselves out were shot.

Shockingly a few people were still alive when the Americans arrived. The commander of the 102th ordered the people of the town Gardelegen to give these people a proper burial on April 21. Four days later a ceremony was held to honor the people who were lost. What's worse is the man who gave the order, Gerhard Thiele, was never brought to justice. This man would die on June 30, 1994.

The company continued to patrol until the end of European hostilities.

Franky operated in a subdued manner, which was extremely strange to his friends. He told them what had happened unsteadily but maintained his composure as the words tumbled from his tongue. So much unnecessary death. 

XxxX

Japan surrendered unconditionally September 2. The war was over. Peace in our time and all that jazz. The president of course had to make a speech to honor the occasion.

"The thoughts and hopes of all America—indeed of all the civilized world—are centered tonight on the battleship Missouri. There on that small piece of American soil anchored in Tokyo Harbor the Japanese have just officially laid down their arms. They have signed terms of unconditional surrender.

"Four years ago, the thoughts and fears of the whole civilized world were centered on another piece of American soil—Pearl Harbor. The mighty threat to civilization which began there is now laid at rest. It was a long road to Tokyo—and a bloody one.

"We shall not forget Pearl Harbor.

"The Japanese militarists will not forget the U.S.S. Missouri.

"The evil done by the Japanese war lords can never be repaired or forgotten. But their power to destroy and kill has been taken from them. Their armies and what is left of their Navy are now impotent.

"To all of us there comes first a sense of gratitude to Almighty God who sustained us and our Allies in the dark days of grave danger, who made us to grow from weakness into the strongest fighting force in history, and who has now seen us overcome the forces of tyranny that sought to destroy His civilization.

"God grant that in our pride of the hour, we may not forget the hard tasks that are still before us; that we may approach these with the same courage, zeal, and patience with which we faced the trials and problems of the past four years."

What it really boiled down to was; Japan thought could best us so we kicked it's ass, it's a shame people had to die in the process but we got what we wanted.

Sanji was grateful that the war was over. No one else had to die it this war and Luffy could come home but it still gave him an empty feeling. Like when one finishes a long, enjoyable book and thinks "Well that was everything, what do I do now?" Zoro could not come home and there was nothing he could do about it. He felt was nearing of this story and he did not want to keep reading because he could not control how it ended, he didn't want to be disappointed.

XxxX

September 9, 1945

Ero-cook,

There's nothing I can do about it. The war is over but I'm still a prisoner. That sounds poetic as fuck.

I'm just glad everyone's still alive. I wish I could see them. Tell me what happened to them.

There aren't too many people left here. Well, that is compared to how it was before. There are still a shit ton of people but no where near where it was.

Zoro

XxxX

October 17, Luffy made his return. He, unlike his war burdened friends, still had his ever present cheerful attitude. Sanji's first glimpse of him was when he had launched himself at the blond and tackling him to the ground outside his apartment.

"Dammit Luffy, get off!" the taller man shouted, trying to detangle himself from the moron's tight grip.

"Wah Sanji, feed me! Neeeeeed meeaaaattttt!" the army veteran cried, "Army food sucks, give me real food!"

"Just fucking let me get up and I'll make you some, be patient!" He was immediately released. Luckily, Sanji had anticipated this very situation and had stocked up his kitchen with glorious meat. He had also invited the rest of the crew. Everyone was back together. At least everyone who was coming back...

They celebrated and listened to Luffy tell his war stories. Luffy had been a part of the island hopping missions, meaning he went to many islands controlled by japan and pushed that control back. He talked about the dedication the Japanese had, they committed suicide when caught, which wasn't really fair, they destroyed ships sacrificing themselves, and gave undying support to the emperor. Although his superiors did not seem to like him Luffy did manage to get by as a good soldier. Shortly before he was sent home he was promoted to captain and received the metal of honor. Captian Monkey D. Luffy, what a title.

He had fought on the Solomon Islands, Guam, Mariana Islands, and Okinawa with the 6th marine division, the striking sixth.

The roughest time for Luffy had been when they had been on the ground in Okinawa. On April first, Easter Day, L-day, operation Iceberg began. Before they were set out they were given a less than stellar pep talk. They all knew that this was going to be huge, they estimated that eighty percent of them would be killed in combat. No one spoke, there was nothing to say in a situation like this.

When the soldiers were released they expected to be under fire immediately but there was nothing. Well, not nothing, there were a lot but far less than expected. They only lost 28 people and only 81 were injured. Where were the major Japanese forces? Obviously not there. With the enemy hidden from sight the troops advanced far ahead of schedule and took the chance to relax the best they could.

Luffy went to the north of Okinawa with the 6th devision. When they finally did meet the bulk of the entrenched Japanese army on April 13 it was chaos. The battle lasted twelve days with incredible resistance. Gen. Ushijima, leader of the Japanese army mission on Okinawa, was not a stupid man. He had kept his army back in order to sustain the battle as long as possible.

There was no time to take prisoners and the Japanese soldiers had a habit of playing dead, so it was two in the head just to make sure. You never wanted to be captured by the Japanese either. They cut off the genitalia of their victims and defected on them, as well as other manner of horrible action.

There was also no time to burry the bodies. They laid there in the mug, scorched, or in pieces. The smell was horrendous. When they are their rations it tasted like death.

There was constant artillery fire, the Japanese had the high ground on every ridge they came across. The soldiers had to sleep in fox holes they dug in the wet earth. It was like sleeping in your own grave and you were in constant fear of the Japanese advancing. During this time there was an increase of mental cases among soldiers. Many had to be sent away. Luffy could understand their struggle. He had never been one to dwell much on negative emotion but being in this place made it nearly impossible. To keep himself moving he had to go step by step, never stopping too long to think. Just over one more hill, just to the end of that field, just one more shoot out, then it will all be over. It was better to focus on the mission than what was actually going on around him. 

The battle for Sugarloaf Hill was one of the bloodiest of the war, it began May 12. The rain poured down upon the bloodied ground. The dirt became mud, turning the terrain into a soup of dead Japanese and American bodies. The hill itself was not especially large 50 feet tall and 300 yards long but it took about six days to capture. Six days of absolute hell, people being torn up by gunfire and loud explosions in torrential downfall. By the end 1,656 marines would be dead and another 7,429 injured.

The civilians of Okinawa were terrified of the Americans, believing the propaganda that had been spun together by their government. The soldiers did their best to show that they meant no harm but many ran off to hide in caves where a good portion killed themselves. Some of the civilians who they did coax into moving from their villages, out of harms way, were mowed down by the Japanese army. They did not want them taken as prisoners.

This was something Luffy had to live with witnessing for the rest of his life. He had been truly afraid for his life while he was there, anyone who said they weren't afraid was a fucking liar. 

The whole battle officially ended on June 22. It is estimated that about 149,000 Okinawan civilians, 77,000 Japanese soldiers, 14,000 America soldiers, and a small number of other deaths from other countries occurred. Both commanding officers died on the island, American General Buckner was shot on June 18 and general Ushijima committed suicide on June 22 to avid capture.

Late in the evening Luffy laid back in his chair, "If only Zoro were here, then everything would be perfect," he commented with a strangely sad smile. The mood suddenly changed. Until then they had avoided bringing up this particular topic because it was actually really fucking depressing.

The blond scoffed, "The bastard's not even here and he's ruining the mood." He felt out of balance knowing that they couldn't fight about stupid shit ever again.

Luffy sat up and pointed a finger at the chef, "Don't be sad, Sanji, everything will turnout okay!" he exclaimed.

"Eh? I'm not fucking sad-," but the captain had already moved on.

"You guys can't be sad either," his finger swept over everyone else.

"How can you say that, Luffy?" demanded Nami, "We're never going to see him again!"

Luffy only grinned, "He's our Nakama, he can't get rid of us so easily," and somehow he managed to rekindle a bit of hope.

XxxX

October 13, 1945

Grass head,

Land of the free my ass.

Chopper was involved in the invasion of Germany as a medic, but he was only over there a few months. He did run into one of the camps over there. The kid is a mess.

Franky was all over Europe he ran into some really terrible shit too. A building filled with burned bodies, actually. He came back pretty jumpy, he's staying with Robin for a while. I call him a lucky bastard but... 

Luffy came back a few days ago. I can't believe that little shit is a captain now, it's like his dreams have come true. He actually seems okay but he's always been a little strange. He's convinced that somehow by the power of "Nakamaship" you will find your way back to us. I hope he's somehow right.

Fuck, I hope you get this in time. I didn't realize how close you were to leaving. I confess that despite you being a total bastard most of the time I will really, really miss you. And I really can't express this emotion I am feeling right now but I think you should come back so it can go away. Just imaging my goodbye being really dramatic because I feel like I would get in big trouble if I wrote half of what I want to because someone is probably monitoring what we write. Also it would be ridiculously embarrassing.

Don't go, dammit.

Sanji

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does anyone else get the feeling Sanji is slightly bipolar? Anyone? Just me? There could be something worth writing about there, just saying. 
> 
> Fuck the nazis. I watched about an hour of concentration camp footage in preparation for this chapter to make it accurate enough and I physically feel a little sick, so any nazis out there, I hope you kill yourself because fuck you. WWII was a really fucking depressing time period.
> 
> I made Luffy a marine but a naval officer... Just... I don't know how the army works, okay? Wait, there was actually one navy guy part of the 6th, thank you history for somehow bending to my will. And Franky was part of the 102nd Infantry Division even though there are some issues there, he actually should have come back March 23, 1946 but I can't even remember what year it is anymore.
> 
> On another note Hiroshima was not the most devastating attack done by the Allies. Debatably the bombing of Dresden was the most destructive. Somewhere between 35,000-135,000 people were killed by American and British firebombing. So it goes. The is where the amazing novel Slaughterhouse Five takes place. I fucking love that book. 
> 
> Japan surrender September second but Truman gave his speech the first so I don't know what happened there. I guess it was just official on the second.
> 
> Thanks.


	7. Plant Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reunited at last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I saw a ghost on the stairs  
> And sheets on the tables and chairs  
> The silverware swam with the sharks in the sink  
> Even so, I don't know what to think  
> I've been longing for daisies to push through the floor  
> And I wish plant life would grow all around me  
> So I won't feel dead anymore
> 
> -"Plant Life" Owl City

In the months leading up to his deportation more and more people left. The Nakanishi family had decided to move back to japan so they would be leaving with Zoro. The general mood was more gloomy then before. People were worried about their families back in Japan, some had relatives in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Some were angry that Japan had been forced to surrender. Some were just angry they had been kept in a prison camp.

They carried on the best they could, it would all be over soon. He was thankful that all of his friends had managed to send farewell letters in time. Or at least a 'I promise we'll see you again soon' letter on Luffy's part.

XxxX

November 7, 1945

Sanji,

Don't worry I got your letter in time. I think I can appreciate how you're feeling. These past few years the only thing that let me keep my cool was the thought that I would eventually be allowed to go home. I don't know what I'm going to do when I get back to japan but I promise you will see me again. Take care of my swords until then.

Yours always,

Zoro

XxxX

November 13, three days before they were scheduled to set off for japan some attorney named Wayne Collins got a court order to keep the people who were scheduled to leave until their case could be heard by a judge.

When Zoro heard this news his hopes rose, maybe there was a chance for him after all.

This attorney was arguing that so many people agreed to leave under the stress of living in Tule Lake. He convinced the courts to hear appeals to stay in the country.

So on the fifteenth instead of being shipped away they were separated into groups, those who wanted to stay and those who did not. A little less than half decided to go to court to have their cases heard, Zoro among them. The date to send people back to japan was postponed until everything was sorted out.

XxxX

November 15, 1945

Cook,

Hey, you probably weren't expecting to hear form me so soon but I have some fucking amazing news. Some attorney guy managed to get a bunch of judges to hear appeals of the people who want to stay here. I have a chance. Maybe Luffy was right after all, maybe it will be okay.

Zoro

XxxX

There was not much formal discussion on how cases would go over. Zoro just had to use information he gathered from other people on what was going to happen. Apparently the people deciding his fate would review his citizenship papers and if everything was in order they would hear his case. Then they would make a decision. With the massive amount of people the process was rather rushed.

January 4, the Japanese man found himself in front of a judge and small jury.

The judge cleared his throat, calling attention upon himself, "Mister Roronoa, will you please give your history and reason to stay for the court to hear?"

Zoro nodded, "Yes, your honor," although he didn't get why he had to call this guy 'you honor' he did not seem particularly honorable, "I moved legally to Los Angeles from Shimotsuki Village in Japan when I was fourteen years old with my guardian Koshiro. From there I worked factory jobs and have been ever sense," a brief and not very glamorous story but he was fine with it.

The judge raised an eyebrow, "No family of any sort, mister Roronoa?"

"No, your honor, but I have friends who miss me very much."

"Very well. Jury?" The man turned to the row of all white males to the side.

One of the men rose, "All of his paperwork seems to be in order therefore we have concluded he should be allowed to stay."

Zoro felt like a weight had been lifted. He was going home, for sure this time. Well, unless the universe really hated him.

"Okay," the judge said dismissively, "The defendant is allowed to live in this country as a Native American Alien. Case dismissed," brought down his mallet, "Bring in the next one."

Zoro was ushered out, rushing past an older man on his way out, presumably the next defendant.

XxxX

January 4, 1946

Curly-brow,

My trial is over, I get to come home when all the trials are done. Hopefully it doesn't take too long but there are a lot of people here. This hell is almost over.

Zoro

XxxX

December 17, 1945

Marimo,

Fucking shit, I think you just gave me the best early Christmas present ever. I thought you were gone, holy shit. Everyone was so down. Fuck the mail for not getting here sooner I was seriously considering committing seppuku with Wado. Never ever do that again, and you better no get our hopes up just to crush them because I will kick your head in if you don't come back.

Also have you been hearing about the Nuremberg trials? Insane, those bastards are lucky they aren't lead out into the streets and shot execution style.

Sanji

XxxX

Janruary 20, 1946

I swear if I come home and find out you disembowled yourself with one of my swords I will drag you back from hell justso that I can beat the shit out of you. Also if I don't come back I want you to hunt me down and kick me in the head because I'd probably be in need of being dragged back.

They say that the trials are almost over now so I should be released soon.

And yes I've heard about them. They're kind of a big deal. At least the Germans kept good records, it will be easier to stick them with something.

Zoro

XxxX

February 18, 1946

Grass head,

Well, I am glad your case was ruled on in your benefit. Suddenly I feel like my happiness levels are boiling over, but I feel like being classy today so I will refrain from running around, and jumping up and down on my bed. I'm way too cool for that. Did you just admit that there is a possibility of you getting lost on your way back here? Because I would seriously walk up there if you need me to guide you back by hand like a child.

You better show up soon or I'll do something drastic.

Sanji

XxxX

February 21, 1946, Zoro Roronoa was given twenty-five dollars and a one way ticket to Los Angeles. As he sat in a dirty, crowded bus he looked back upon The Tule Lake Segregation camp. He hoped that he would never, ever have to go back there. Ever.

In that month 4,406 Japanese people left for japan by their own will. 2,737 of the 3,186 who stayed were released as 'native American aliens', their citizenships revoked. It was like a final kick in the teeth before being shoved back into the outside world. Four fucking years in that place and he came out with even less than he started with. He hoped those bastards at the top felt pretty good about themselves. During the course of the war not a single Japanese American was charged with espionage. The few people who were charged were Caucasian. Whatever, all that mattered now was he was on his way home.

XxxX

The city looked about the same as it did before but there were of course slight differences; a new building here, a fresh propaganda poster there. But it was pretty much the same. It gave him that weird nostalgic feeling, like he was being squeezed through a tube or something. The stares he got when he was dropped off at a bus station in the general area of where he used to live were exactly the same. Oh, the perks of being a minority with a home country that tried to murder the country you are living in. Great fun.

He wandered down the street, feeling slightly dizzy with the fact that this was actually a thing that was happening. He tried to shake himself out of it and focus because it was like four pm and he need a place to stay, preferably with someone he knew. He just needed to find his way to them. He could manage that right? Right, of course he could he was a perfectly capable individual. No need to worry about that. And so Zoro wandered around the familiar environment trying to get to whomever was closest or to wherever he ended up.

After about forty minuets or so of wandering the swordsman turned a corner and caught the sight someone he knew. Sanji was walking down the sidewalk toward him, eyes on the ground and cigarette in his mouth. He looked more grown up in a way, not that he looked childlike or innocent before but he seemed a bit warn by all that had happened. It was also kind of weird because he switched his stupid prissy bangs to flip over the right side of his face. Those stupid fucking eyebrows, how he had missed them.

Zoro continued to walk toward the blond, he had been waiting for this for so long. Still he did not know how to act, he was not the best at emotional expression. He walked directly in front of Sanji who, upon seeing a pair of feet enter his line of vision, jerked his head up to yell at whatever jackass was in his way.

"Hey, asshole, what-?" But he cut himself off when he focused on the face of said asshole. Adrenaline rushed through his veins. His cigarette fell from his mouth and onto the pavement. Zoro, he was back, standing directly in front of him. Instead of keeping calm and being rational about this he opened his mouth and blurted out the first thing that came to mind, which in this case happened to be:

"The fuck happened to your face!?"

Zoro blinked like he was confused, like he did not know he had a massive scar on his face that ran over his eye.

"A guard stabbed me with a bayonet after he told me I was being deported," he said with a grimace. He hoped that guy would rot in hell.

Sanji looked appalled, "And you didn't think to mention this at all?! No 'hey so I was stabbed in the face so my eye is totally fucked.' No? You are ridiculous. I can't even..." He trailed off biting his lip and looking increasingly distressed. He made a whining sound, decided 'you know what I don't even care' and threw himself a the Marimo.

He wrapped his arms around the man's broad shoulders and held on tightly. Zoro did the same, elated that he this was actually happening.

"I'm so glad you're back. I was losing my mind," Sanji said tensely, not wanting to ever let go.

"Not as glad asme, shit-cook,"

They stayed there unmoving for much longer than was socially acceptable but in that moment it did not matter to them that they were getting weird looks from people passing by. When they finally did pull back Sanji realized that they needed to tell everyone that Zoro was back. He grabbed the moron's arm just to insure that he would not mysteriously get turned around and not because he did not want to lose physical contact.

He was figuratively on cloud nine, "Come on we have to tell everyone," he said pulling him in the direction he had been walking in, then a thought occurred, "Where are you going to stay?"

The Japanese man shrugged, he had not really thought much about it, "I don't know, wherever."

Sanji rolled his eyes, "You're staying with me, idiot." He sighed, "So how did you get here?"

"They gave me a bus ticket, twenty five dollars, and here I am,"

"What about the other people in your house thing? You mentioned a Tashigi."

"She got to go home back in June. One of the families went home while I was still being held for 'assaulting an officer' and the other people left on a ship to japan."

Sanji looked confused, "When did you assault an officer?" he asked.

"When that asshole told me I was being deported. He's the one who stabbed me, probably for revenge for when I punched him in the face during the riot," he grimaced.

Sanji rolled his eyes dramatically, "Dammit, why didn't you put any of this in your letters?"

"Hey, I'm sure you left out important stuff too," Zoro retorted.

"No, I did not because I am an open and honest individual,"

Zoro snorted, "Right."

They eventually found their way to Luffy's, it was closest. The straw hat wearing boy immediately thew himself at them with a, "I told you he would come back!"

After that they rounded everyone else up and ended up in Robin's place. Everyone was thrilled to have their friend back and thus Zoro was the center of attention. They all gathered in the living room and stared expectantly at him like it was story time. Which, to be fair it kind of was.

Luffy was first to speak up, "So Zoro, let's hear it. What happened?"

The Japanese man ran his hand through his hair and sighed before launching into the story of what had happened when he left.

By the time he was done everyone looked more or less disgusted. There were few interruptions, most of them being outraged comments. It felt good to get everything out there, he felt weird and shimmery like a dream but he was actually there. Finally home. When the night came to an end he left with the cook, stepping out into the dark of night. They walked in a comfortable silence to Sanji's apartment complex. The streets were pretty clear and just for a moment Zoro wanted to reach out and hold Sanji's hand. But just for a moment.

When they had reached their destination Sanji unlocked the door and walked inside. For a moment Zoro felt like a vampire, like he needed to be invited to come inside but he shook his head slightly and stepped through the doorway.

It looked pretty much the same, just as clean and neat as always. He shut the door behind him and walked inside, dumping his things onto the couch. His eyes were immediately drawn to the three beautiful katanas resting on a shelf. He picked them up and unsheathed them one by one, checking their condition. They were perfect, they had been well kept. Zoro looked up as Sanji enter the room.

"They look okay?" He asked with a slightly nervous smile.

"Perfect," Zoro smirked, "Hey, cook wanna go?" He gripped the swords tightly, anxious to use them after nearly four years.

Sanji smirked back, "Maybe," he said slyly, "But let's try not to break anything." He didn't have an especially roomy apartment.

In a flurry of limbs they clashed, it felt like like something along the lines of an addict getting a fix. A long overdue fix. All the stress and frustration was being released with some good old fashion violence. One thing lead to another and they both ended up a sweaty mess on the floor panting, trying to catch their breath.

Sanji turned to his head, "I missed you so much," he breathed, sounding pained.

Zoro pulled him closer with one arm, "I know, I missed you too."

Sanji wrapped an arm around him and leaned his head against the other man's chest. They stayed like that for a long time, savoring the moment like they had to savor all the moments they had together, because they knew this could not last forever.

An unmeasured amount of time later the two stood up and headed back toward the bedroom. Tucking in under the warm blankets was an amazing change to being stuck in a shed with only scratchy blankets for warmth. Snaking his arms around the thin blond beside him Zoro settled in and instantly fell asleep.

The blond, however, was still quite awake and alert. He thoughts were moving too fast for him to sleep. He watched the Zoro's chest rise and fall, and clung to his radiating heat. His eyes moved up toward his face,toward that awful scar. He ran a hand over his marred cheek, not so much as a twitch. Fucking Marimo slept like a rock. He could hardly believe he was really there. For a while he thought he would never see him again. This was a thought that distressed him more than he was willing to admit. This whole thing distressed him a lot more than he was comfortable admitting.

It was hard after he had left not knowing when he was coming back, days becoming weeks, weeks becoming months, months becoming years. But he never stopped wanting him to come back. He did not want to move on, at least the irrational part of brain didn't. His rational side was telling him that this was the perfect opportunity for him to turn his life around. To avoid the temptation of a sinful life. The damage to his eternal soul was already done but he consoled himself by saying he was probably already going to hell anyway, so he may as well drag the marimo down with him but he did not really believe in a god to begin with. As much as he tried he just could not let Zoro go. Terrifying as it was to admit, he was starting to think he was in love with that bastard.

It was not fair. Why could he not have fallen in love with some beautiful woman? They could have gotten married, had children, and lived a full and happy life together. If he kept on this path he would never be married, never have children, and live in fear of someone discovering his secret, but he felt he could not stay away. He was sick but he did not want to do anything about it. He did not want to get better. He would rather the rest of the world change instead, the universe owed him for taking so much away.

He thought back to when he had first found out about Zeff's death. He had been a mess for a while. It felt like the world was coming down around him. His friends were gone, he did not know when they would be back, if ever. He hit a major low point. He just wanted everything to stop and when he got really drunk he wanted to just go to sleep and never wake up again. He just felt so useless. He was not able to get Zoro out of that camp, he wasn't able to join the army to help Luffy, Franky, and Chopper, and he could not protect his first family over in France, but every time he thought about doing something bad, he would switch to thinking about how Zoro would tell him not to be such a whiny bitch about everything and just deal with it. He probably wouldn't have done it anyway. His friends would be upset if he were gone and he was not selfish enough to do this for himself so he didn't.

He hit another low when Zoro wrote about how he was being sent back to japan. He had finally let his hopes go up with all the public proclamation twenty-one business and it was like a knife to the gut. But he knew that the rest of his friends needed him there, they were finally coming together again after so long. He was just so glad that this horrible thing was over and at some point he slipped into a deep sleep.

XxxX

The next day Zoro woke up to the glorious smell of breakfast, much better than the smell of dirt and kerosene. He rolled out of bed and strolled into the kitchen, Sanji was cooking pancakes. Zoro grabbed one and stuffed about half of it into his mouth. He had almost forgotten jut how good Sanji's food actually was.

"Miss my cooking, moss-brain?" The chef teased, flipping a pancake.

"You have no idea how badly army food sucks," he replied, shoving more into his face.

Sanji snorted, "Luffy said the same thing when he got back."

Zoro hummed, too busy trying to fit another pancake into his mouth to reply.

"So, what are you going to do today?" Blondie asked, lighting up a cigarette.

"Look for a new apartment, new job, check on my stuff in storage," Zoro mumbled.

"Jumping right back into it I see."

"Not that I have much of a choice."

"It would be nice if you could just live here," Sanji said wistfully, nice but dangerous. People would talk.

"I wish, but I'll probably have to end up back in my old building," Why couldn't anything just go their way.

Sanji left at twelve for work very reluctantly with a lingering kiss, having had half the day off, leaving Zoro to himself. First he decided to check his storage unit.

He made the twenty minuet trip to the facility and when he asked the guy at counter about his unit the guy said that the compartment where he had put his things was empty. He was assured that the company had not idea what had happened it. They also refused to give back the money he had been paying for an apparently empty unit.

When he was threatened with the police by the manager who he had been threatening with bodily harm he moved on to apartment hunting. His first stop was his old apartment complex where he was told everything was full so he moved on. The next few places wouldn't even let him through the door. The few places he found were on the dirt poor end of that Zoro was much above that level economically but he did not want to be murdered in his sleep because the locks on his door didn't work. He hoped work would be easier to find.

After the war had ended many men had come back looking for jobs only to find that women and those minorities thought unfit for serving had replaced them. In addition all of the jobs in producing war goods had dried up leaving even less jobs available. He did not have much luck in that field especially sense some businesses had signs saying 'no japs allowed'. At five he decided to give up his search for the day and hope for better luck tomorrow.

He returned to Sanji's home disheartened. Sanji himself returned around seven.

"How did things go?" He asked with a smile.

Zoro groaned, "Really shitty, my stuff was cleared out of storage, and no one wants to take me, in jobs or apartments."

Sanji's expression fell, "Shit, well you can stay here as long as you want, or like forever. I don't care."

"Wow, you almost sound like you want me around."

Sanji shrugged with an innocent look on his face, "I'm just saying it's an option. I wouldn't cast you off into the streets."

"That's much appreciated, now make me dinner," he demanded mockingly.

"I've changed my mind. You can leave now," the blond said, moving toward the kitchen anyway.

"Nope, I'm defiantly staying here now. You'll have to physically throw me out, which you defiantly can't do."

"Right, just be carful or I might physically kick your teeth out, jackass."

Dinner passed in a kaleidoscope of amazing food. Zoro's taste buds were pretty much singing. Sanji picked up all the plates and placed them in the sink. Zoro tried to sneak away but he was grabbed by the back of his shirt.

"And where do you think you're going?," Sanji asked a little too sweetly, "Dry dishes, now."

Zoro groaned but did as he was told. Washing dishes wasn't really that bad anyway. There was a long stretch of silence, well, relative silence as the dishes clatter while they were washed, between them before Sanji spoke up.

"Zoro," he said, immediately capturing the other man's full attention, "What would you say if I said I loved you?" He did not look up from his task.

Zoro was stunned. They never really talked about the emotions in their relationship. It was like if they talked about it it was something they couldn't take back, couldn't turn around or change.

"I would say I loved you too, but in a very tough manly way," he responded.

Sanji glanced over at him, holding eye contact. He looked a little scared, as he should because he was fucking terrified but he was tired of avoiding this. He just wanted to be happy, at least for a little while.

"I cold move out of here and we could look for a place with two bedrooms," he suggested.

Zoro definitely liked that idea, Let's do it," he said, smirking.

A smile crept up over Sanji's face. Fuck the rest of the world, he was happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Nuremberg trials were a series of trials against nazi head dudes. They were kind of amazing because they were a civilized way of dealing with these monsters. They began October 18, 1945 and went on to 1948.
> 
> The renunciation act was the one that started the whole deportation thing. I'm a bit fuzzy on how all of those people were being deported so it's not 100 percent accurate and I don't know that they let any Issei stay but I wanted Zoro to stay. It took 14 years for those people to get their citizenship back. Collins' case took a while to make it through the courts. I do not know how immigration trials play out so I used my vast knowledge of Law and Order to put together a case plus some modern immigration tactics.
> 
> In this story I have written about some horrible, horrible things in America's past. But America wasn't the only monster. The Japanese army was brutal. They fought with everything they had going so far as to train kamikaze soldiers. They were horrible to their prisoners of war. When their officers returned from capture sometimes they would openly encourage them to commit suicide. Their imperialism cost the lives of probably millions, and not just allied forces, when they invaded places like china they killed tons of civilians. China actually lost the second most people in that war, the first was Russia. War brings out the worst in everyone. We can only hope nothing like this ever happens again.
> 
> I could have just stopped it here and ended it happily, but no. I couldn't just leave it like this so I may have stumbled down a dark path. So you have that to look forward to next time.
> 
> Thanks.


	8. They're Coming to Take Me Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why can't everything just work out?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They're coming to take me away, ha ha.   
> They're coming to take me away, hoho, hee hee, ha ha.   
> To the funny farm. Where life is beautiful all the time   
> And I'll be happy to see those nice young men in their clean white coats   
> And they're coming to take me away, ha ha.
> 
> -"They're Coming to Take Me Away" Napoleon XIV

March 5, Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave a speech in Fulton, Missouri. In this speech he said, "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent."

He was of corse referring to the rising tensions between the Soviet Union and all the other European nations. Unfortunately for him this was not what the people of Missouri wanted to hear, the speech was very unpopular. 

Maybe there would not be so much peace after all. 

XxxX

It took some time, but on March 20 Sanji and Zoro moved into a small two bedroom apartment. It took quite a bit of effort to find one that would take Zoro, but they finally find one. It was a bit on the small side, but it was good enough for them. In that time Zoro had finally found a job in a car factory, it paid pretty well but it could have been better. On a whole things were looking up for them. Things were finally returning to normal. Maybe a little better than normal. 

After the war the soldiers came back with money to spend and having not had much over seas. This influx of spending caused the economy to raise, creating a happy and comfortable America. Of course over in the European countries where the war had been fought on the ground there was mass starvation and unhappiness. According to the word of some Russian man speaking about this time years after the fact, "It was a time when sausages were made with human meat." Not that anyone over in the United States knew this, it was kept well out of the public eye. 

XxxX

In 1947, the Marshall plan was placed into effect. This plan gave a large sum of money to war ravaged Europe. Sanji wasn't just another mindless drone, he knew what was going on. The United States was basically say, 'here's a bunch of money, remember it before you decide to go communist'. There had been a lot of talk about communism, more specifically the spread of it. The United States and the Soviet Union had both come out of this war as super powers and they were both very wary of each other. 

XxxX

June 24, 1948 the Russians declared that the allies no longer had any right to be in Berlin. After Germany had fallen it was split up into four sections overseen my four powers; the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the soviet. The capital of Berlin was also split into four parts. When the soviets made this announcement the started to blockade the city, starving the citizens inside. Instead of invading or bombing on June 26, the Berlin airlift began as US planes dropped supplies to the blockaded citizens. This blockade lasted until March 12, 1949 but the airlift continued until September 13. 

XxxX

April 4, 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Association was created, otherwise known as NATO, in order to insure peace among it's members, which started with twelve nations. 

XxxX

August 29, the Soviet Union tested it's first atomic bomb. The United States suddenly was not the only nation capable of mass destruction. People were afraid. 

As a result bomb shelters became a craze. Everyone was getting one installed into their home, as were community buildings like court houses. Just in case of a nuclear attack. 

XxxX

October 1, Chinese leader Mao Zedong declared china a communist nation, The People's Republic of China. This caused a flow of fear through the capitalist world, they were worried that more and more would fall into communist hands. 

XxxX

Sanji and Zoro had a good three years all around. They lived together, they held steady jobs, and they were surrounded by their friends. The public hate started shifting more toward communists and away from the Japanese, which was a definite plus. Unfortunately, in this case the happiness was not to last. 

XxxX

November 18, 1949, Sanji was busy in his kitchen making sandwiches for himself and the lovely Nami, who just happened to be in the area and decided to stop by. She was sitting idle, sipping a glass of ice tea and watching him work. 

They chatted for a while about nothing in particular before coming to a topic of interest. 

"What do you think you'll do with your future, Sanji?" Nami asked, setting down her glass. 

Sanji glanced over at her, "What do you mean, my dear?"

"I mean do you want to get married, start a family? That sort of thing. I mean you're twenty eight, no girlfriend, and you live with another guy. You better find someone quickly or people might think you're queer," she laughed at the thought. 

The man let out a nervous laugh, "Uh, I don't know. I'm surrounded by lovely ladies, I'm just waiting for the right one, you know?"

"And what constitutes the right one?" Nami pressed, grinning. 

"I'll know it when I see it, but for now I'm content." He really hoped she would drop it there. 

"How can you be content? You live with Zoro, for god's sake. You two can't even carry out a civil conversation, I don't understand why you moved in together in the first place." Her brows furrowed as if this were some sort of eternal question needing answered. 

"He couldn't find a single person place and my rent was getting expensive. It was the logical choice."

Nami's eyes narrowed, "Right. Now I'm starting to think you're queer," she teased, not missing his wince as the words came out, "So, when was the last time you had an actual girlfriend?"

Sanji himself could not remember, he had taken a few girls out so it would look like he had an interest in them, but it had been a while because Zoro, understandably, did not like it very much and he felt bad about using them, so he shrugged. "I don't know, it's been a while, but when was the last time you saw Luffy or Zoro with a girl?"

Nami shook her hear, "That's different, Luffy has the mental capacity of a child and I don't think Zoro is even capable of processing that kind of emotion. You are different, so why haven't you had a girlfriend in so long?"

Sanji was growing very alarmed at the rate of progression in this conversation but he kept calm and carried the sandwiches to the table, "I don't know, I just haven't. Does there have to be a reason for it?"

The redhead rolled her eyes, "Of course there does. Everything action has reason behind it," she hummed as she bit into her sandwich, "My guess is that you are in love with someone unattainable and cannot move on. That sounds like something you would do, but that's just one theory."

Sanji made a face, "I don't know what to tell you, my flower, I can only assure you that you are wrong."

Nami leaned back, "I don't think so, I just have to figure out who it is." She left it at that and they continued to eat in comfortable silence as she mulled over this thought. Who could it be? She thought back to all the females she had seen Sanji interact with. He was always the same, he never seemed to treat them with any favoritism. She could not think of any women Sanji had shown particular interest in but her gut was telling her she was not wrong, he was in love with someone. 

Then she came upon a disturbing thought. What if he wasn't in love with a girl? What if he was in love with a man? It fit the unattainable profile, but would he really do something like that? She thought of the men he interacted with. He tended to be overly hostile with them, not a hint of attraction. However, when she thought back with this idea in mind Sanji did seem a little too upset with Zoro being sent away seeing as they were always at each others throats. Then when Zoro came back they had moved in together. She could understand why Zoro needed this arrangement. No one wanted to take him in and he didn't have much money, he needed someone else to set up his living conditions. She did not understand why Sanji decided to be the one to do it. The more she thought the more the answer seemed apparent. She felt suddenly quite sick. Maybe she was just being silly and reading into it too much, but she could not dislodge the idea that had caught on in her brain. 

Sanji looked up when he noticed his guest had stopped eating. She looked pale, a prickle of alarm ran through him. 

"Nami, are you alright?" He asked worriedly. 

She jumped slightly, before smiling a forced smile. "Um, Sanji, can I ask you something?"

Sanji swallowed nervously at the lump in his throat. "Anything, my dear."

"Are you in love with a man?" she asked bluntly. 

Sanji froze, it was like liquid ice had been shot through his body leaving him immobile. He tried to open his mouth, to deny the proposed question but he only managed a grimace and a muffled choking sound. 

Her eyes widened, she had expected outrage and denial but Sanji looked more like he was on the verge of panicking than boiling in anger. 

"Oh, my god," she breathed, her stomach flopped uncomfortably and for a moment she thought she might actually be sick. Unbelievable, utterly unbelievable that one of her friends could be involved in something like this. "Does anyone know? Does he know?" she asked when her voice returned to her. 

Sanji mentally slapped himself back into reality, "No! No, of course he doesn't- I mean, I'm not- I don't-" he took a deep breath, she already knew his secret he didn't want to incriminate Zoro as well. He took a deep breath, "No," he said a little more calmly as he stared at the wooden floor boards. 

Nami looked horrified, "How can you-" she sook her head trying not to think about it, she drew in a lung full if air and looked up at him. "Sanji... You need help. You don't have to be this way, we can fix this."

Sanji shook his head, "No, I don't need fixed- I just- I'll be fine. Don't worry about it."

"How can I not? You're sick, you need help."

The blond crossed his arms. "I don't need help. I'm not sick."

Nami stood suddenly, "I have to go, thanks for the food." She pushed her unfinished plate of food away from her and started toward the door.

"Nami!" Sanji called out, she turned, "Please, don't tell anyone," he begged. She did not say anything more, only grimaced and left Sanji to his own inner turmoil. 

She knew. She could do anything with that information. He had been careful so careful, although not careful enough apparently. It was not that he did not trust Nami. It was just that homosexuality was considered an illness and she might try to help him get better, or so to speak. The room swam before him and he felt that he might fall under the weight of his worries. He sank to the ground and buried his face in his hands. He did not cry but his eyes and throat burned. When he had regained a degree of equanimity he began obsessively cleaning the house, trying to avoid unwanted thoughts and not flip the fuck out. This was exactly what he was doing when Zoro got back from work a few hours later. 

"Cook, I'm ho- what?" he cut himself off when he looked at the chef's expression; pale and distraught. 

"Nami," Sanji mumbled. 

"Yeah, what about her?" 

"She knows, Zoro."

Now he could understand the panic, "You mean-"

"Yes!" he exclaimed, "What are we going to do?"

"How the hell did she find out?" he asked trying to gage the situation. 

"She was asking why I didn't have a real girlfriend and stuff. Then she got really quiet before asking if I was in love with a guy."

"And you just said yes!?"

He shook his head. "I froze up and it just sort of came out, like when you're trying so hard to do something right you do it wrong."

Zoro ran a hand through a hair. "How did she react?"

"She looked sick and told me I needed help. She also asked if anyone knew about this and I told her no, so you're safe." He flopped into one of the chairs and leaned his head on the table. 

"But you're not. And I don't think there's anything we can do, unless we can hunt her down and threaten her before she tells someone," he groaned in frustration.

"We're not going to threaten Nami, Sanji said firmly. 

"Yeah, I figured. But fuck, we always knew this might happen. We just have to let it play out. It's Nami's hands now."

"If she talks to you, you have to tell her that you had no idea otherwise we might both go down for this," seeing the look of protest on Zoro's place he continued, "And don't try to be a hero about this, I might need a double agent to sway some minds."

Zoro groaned, "This is such fucking bullshit."

XxxX

After Nami had run out of Sanji's apartment she stopped outside the building, trying to comprehend what she had just learned. What was she going to do? One of her friends was sick, in need of help. She needed to talk to someone else, to get another perspective. With that in mind she headed in the direction of Robin's home. 

Ten minuets later she opened the door and walked inside. Robin looked mildly surprised to see her in such a huff. 

"Something wrong?" she asked curiously. 

Nami threw herself onto one of the plush chairs. "Yes! Something is very wrong! Sanji is in love with a man!" 

Robin did not look especially surprised, more concerned. "I did have a feeling."

"What should we do?"

Robin tapped her finger on her chin, "We have two choices. We can either do nothing and hope for the best, or we can get him help."

"We can't just do nothing, he's our friend. We can't let him suffer how he is, who knows what will happen. I mean he's living with Zoro right now, he is probably dealing with a great deal of restraint. Zoro will never return the feeling."

Robin was not so sure of that last statement but chose not to say so, instead she folded her hands in her lap calmly. "In that case, we will have to go to a judge and alert him to the situation so that Sanji can get the help he requires."

Nami sighed, "Is this really the right thing to do? He's not going to want to go."

Robin smiled sadly, "It's the only way to fix things but I would advise taking a few days to think this decision over."

"Okay, two days from now we'll meet up here and make a final choice."

XxxX

During the two days that, unbeknownst to Sanji, would decide his fate the blue eyed man was a bundle of nerves. He was just waiting for someone in the streets to throw something at him, or spit on him, or for his door to be knocked down and have him taken away. Zoro thought he was probably just being paranoid, Nami most likely would not do something like that. He only saw her once in that time. He was walking to work and passed her on the street. She gave him a weird look but waved at him anyway, then she had passed. He tried to get Sanji to calm down but he refused to listen. 

XxxX

November 20, Robin and Nami, mostly Nami, made up their minds to commit Sanji to an institution. It was for his own good and it was better this than him being convicted of sodomy, landing him in prison. Having that on his permanent record would ruin the rest of his life. 

They solemnly approached the local court house in order to meet with a judge who Robin knew was available. The old judge greeted them as they walked into his office. He did not seem thrilled to be talking to them but was not unpleasant. 

"I understand that you wish to commit a friend of yours into an institution?" he asked, Nami nodded, "Would you describe this friend's ailment?"

"He has shown interest in other men. We want him to get better before it gets him unto trouble," Nami answered uncomfortably. 

The judge raised an eyebrow as his lips curled, "Then he has yet to commit the crime?"

Nami shook her head. "Not as far as we know."

The judge removed his glasses, setting them down on his desk, "Very well, I will makes some calls. If you will fill out this form." He handed them a sheet of paper asking for Sanji's age, birth date, place of residence... Ect, "And I will need you to tell me how you found out this information."

When the form was filled out and the events leading up it the present were explained they left hoping that they did the right thing. Before parting they agreed not to tell Sanji what they had done, for he would probably run off if alerted. 

XxxX

November 23 started off like every other day. Sanji woke up beside Zoro, got up and cooked breakfast, kick the marimo awake, eat, kiss the moron goodbye, and head off to work. Work was no more or less crazy, just a normal day. The walk there and back was also unremarkable. When he got home he cleaned up around the house, making the beds and such before starting on dinner. About forty five minuets before Zoro was due home there was a knock at his door. 

Setting down the knife he had been using to chop up carrots he answered the door. Three men dressed in police uniform stood in his doorway. 

He felt a sinking feeling in his gut, this must be it. "Can I help you?" he asked. 

"Are you Sanji Noir?" one of the men asked. 

Sanji nodded, "That's me, what do you want?"

"We are here to take you into custody," he said as he took a step forward. 

Sanji stepped back and tried to slam the door in their faces but the officer who had spoken lunged forward, making a grab for him. Instinctively, Sanji kicked the guy in the chest. Upon seeing this assault one of the other officers drew a gun. He held it at the height of Sanji's chest. 

"Don't move," he said slowly, while the other guy helped up the one Sanji had knocked over. Once he was up the officer got out his hand cuffs and again approached the blond, who with a gun against him could not help but to comply unless he wanted to be shot. 

He was shoved against the wall with more force than was needed and cuffed. He was then lead out and into a police vehicle. He didn't even get to say goodbye. 

XxxX

After a car ride full of silent boiling fury the police car arrived at the local court house. He was taken into a large court room filled with only a few men. One man in particular was seated at the far end of the room at a podium, in a funny sort of coat. Sanji supposed that this was the judge seeing as he was on trial. He was lead to an empty seat by the officers who sat either side of him. 

"Sanji Noir," the judge said in a stuffy sort of way, "How are you?"

It seemed an odd sort of question in this environment but he assumed that man was questioning his mental state and not weather or not he was having a good day. 

"Just swell," he responded sarcastically. 

"And do you know why you are here, mister Noir?"

"I have no idea, so why don't you tell me."

"You are here under allegations that you harbor an unhealthy desire of other men," as the old man spoke the words Sanji tried not to react but did not completely succeed. 

"These are only allegations, and nothing more."

"Then are you telling me that those lovely young women lied to me about your condition?"

Sanji faltered, he was shocked that Nami had actually told on him, "No. No, she just misunderstood."

"Misunderstood you saying you were in love with another man?"

"No! I never said that."

"What did you say, mister Noir?"

"I didn't say anything like that. She was the one saying things and I didn't know how to respond."

"But you ended the conversation saying not to tell anyone, is that right?"

Sanji opened his mouth but no words came to him. The judge looked down upon him with a note of disgust. 

"Sanji Noir, I am committing you to a local psychiatric ward. I hope that you will cooperate with the doctors there in getting better," the mallet came down and the case was dismissed. 

Sanji felt out of body, like this was not actually happening to him. When one of the officers tried to take him from the room he jerked back. 

"Time to go," he said, sounding annoyed. 

It was at this point that Sanji sort of lost it. He jumped to his feet slamming his leg into the guy's side full force. The others jumped up and attacked him, he fraught them furiously until someone got him with a baton to the side. With the adrenalin running through his system he didn't quite register the pain but the blow was delivered with enough force to make him crumple on himself. Instantly people were on to of him, pinning his limbs. One of the men called to someone he could not see. A syringe appeared in the man's hand and was lowered to the pale skin of Sanji's arm. Sanji screamed in protest, trying to rip himself out of their grasp to no avail. After a few seconds he was unconscious. 

XxxX

Zoro came home to an empty house, which on its own was not so worrying but combined with the half prepared food sitting on the counter was rather concerning. Maybe Nami had done something after all. He had to think carefully about how to act. If he went after Nami she might figure out what was really going on behind closed doors. 

He decided to wait a while and if the cook did not show he would give the witch a call. 

Half an hour later he was sick of waiting, to be honest it was a miracle that he had waited that long. He grabbed the phone and called up the women with the orange hair. 

"Hello," came Nami's voice. 

"Hey, witch. Do you know where the cook is?" Zoro demanded, trying not to shout. 

There was a pause, "Why would I know where he was?"

"A few days ago he said you were over for lunch, he's been freaked out ever sense. You must have done something," he hoped that sounded convincing enough. 

"Oh, that."

"Well?"

"I don't think he's gong to be back for a while."

"What do you mean?" he pressed. 

"I mean, I think he had to go away for a while. He's sick."

"Sick how? He didn't seem sick," This is what they had been dreading. 

"I'm not sure I should tell you, it might-" 

Zoro cut her off, "Just tell me."

She sighed, "He's been taken to a psychiatric hospital for having unclean thoughts."

"Unclean thoughts?"

"He was lusting after men," she said quietly. 

Zoro was quiet for a long time, her saying it out loud made this nightmare seem more real, "How long will he be gone?" he finally asked. 

"I don't know, until he's better," she sounded concerned. He didn't care, he hung up, slamming down the receiver before he could throw it across the room. 

It was not fair, things had been going so well. They had been separated once again. How long would he be gone? He needed to know not just because he needed to but because he could not afford this place on his own. What was going to happen?

He punched the floor, splitting his knuckles quite badly. It didn't make him feel any better. It was just another useless action that could not bring Sanji back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The human meat sausage thing was from some documentary I watched. 
> 
> You probably have a nuclear fall out bunker somewhere in your town. They still have signs up for them, which is kind of awesome. 
> 
> I'm so so so sorry for having to make Nami a villain. She's amazing and I'm using her for something terrible. If you can think of a better tool to get him in say something but... Just think of it this way, before 1973 homosexuality was considered a mental disease. Imagine if Sanji was schizophrenic or secretly wanted to murder people, she would defiantly want to get him help. In the old days you could pretty much just go up to a judge, tell them you know a crazy person, and they would be put away. I think it mostly applied to family members but let's just gloss over that little detail. You guys will have to let me know how you feel about where this goes...
> 
> Thanks.


	9. Rainbow Veins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes it's nice not to live in the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cheer up and dry your damp eyes and tell me when it rains.  
> And I'll blend up that rainbow above you and shoot it through your veins.  
> 'Cause your heart has a lack of colour and we should've known.  
> That we'd grow up sooner or later 'cause we wasted all our free time alone.
> 
> -"Rainbow Veins" Owl City

Sanji came to in the back of a car. He was completely strapped down and there was a gate separating him from the driver. Oh right, they thought he was crazy. It was not any wonder after the performance he had given in the court room. There was not much he could do in that back of that car other than thing toil in self pity and remorse. It made him feel slightly car sick. 

The ride was not too long, to Sanji it was only about twenty minutes seeing as he was unconscious for the first forty minutes of the journey. After that time he saw a large complex of white buildings, well, he would have seen them if he wasn't strapped down. The driver was actually the one who alerted him to the approach of the facility. 

"Here we are, Camerillo state hospital," said the driver, pulling up the drive. It was sort of in the middle of nowhere. This was probably because people did not want to see this sort of institution, they put people in them to disappear. Sanji wished he had a cigarette but as he made an attempt to pat himself down he realized they had been taken from him while he was out along with his lighter. Of course they would take his lighter, if they hadn't he would have worried for their intelligence. 

When the car came to a stop Sanji was unstrapped and pulled from the vehicle by the hands of some people in white, and lead into a room filled with filing cabinets where a woman was sitting a table. It was explained to him that she was the admissions clerk and she would be taking care of any valuables he might have on him. He was very sorry to say he left all his valuables at home. When this became apparent he was taken into an empty communal shower. 

"Cloths off," said one of the men in white. Sanji tried to think of a way out of this situation. He had alway been more on the modest side, unlike the marimo, the muscly bastard, and the idea of showering in front of these guys was not a pleasant one, but he would never make it out with the security this place had. It was worth a shot anyway. 

As he was being pulled forward Sanji threw out one of his legs and tripped the guy on his right. While that guy was falling the blond turned to the other dude and kicked him into the wall. Then he made a run for it, while the men called out for help. Sanji ducked back down the hallway they had come down, passing alarmed looking people on his way. He had nearly made it back to the admissions lady when he was stopped. 

A mad in a white coat managed to knock him out of balance on his way by, sending him flying into a wall. Once he was down he was swarmed. When he was once again escorted down the hall he was more heavily guarded and bound. They could not bind his legs, but they tied his arms uncomfortably tight. He struggled with them until some females got involved, then he was compliant. 

They arrived back at the shower and this time his captors did not wait for him to undress they Forcefully began to remove his clothing as Sanji struggled. It was a horrible experience. When his cloths were removed one of the men took his cloths and shoes back the way they had come, probably to give them to the admissions lady. When he retuned Sanji was blasted with freezing water and handed a bar of soap. He washed as quickly as possible while the guys watched. The whole time he could not stop thinking about how dirty, and disgusting the floor was under his feet, while he tried to avoid thinking about the eyes watching him. After he had finished he was given a pair of shoes, jeans, and a dirty white shirt with the hospitals name sewn into it. 

His next stop was to some doctors who drew blood from his arm with a large needle, but it wasn't so bad. Then he was given a chest x-ray. After that they drew spinal fluid, a procedure that was slightly uncomfortable, but nothing he couldn't handle. He finally ended up in a room with an actual psychiatrist. 

"Hello, Mister Noir," he said as he took his seat, "How are you today?" Sanji made no move to respond, that was the second time today he had been asked that question in such a patronizing tone, but the man did not look too bothered by his lack of response, "Right down to business then. Okay, how long have you been suffering from this illness?"

"I'm not sick, leave me alone," Sanji said, glaring at the wall. 

"Okay, then how long have you been attracted to men?"

Sanji rolled his eyes, "This is ridiculous, I am not crazy, I'm not attracted to men, and I don't deserve to be here."

"Mister Noir, before you can get better you have to admit to having a problem."

"But I don't have a problem!"

The man sighed and wrote something down on a sheet of paper in front of him. 

"Very well," he said then nodded to the guards, "We're done here."

Sanji was taken from the room and down a series of hallways, passing other patients as he went. They all looked very unhappy. Not all of them looked outwardly very ill, they just walked by with troubled expressions. Sanji wondered why they were here. It was not a very pleasant place, it smelled of cleaning solutions and urine. They ended up in a room filled with beds with only a few feet separating them, in the male wing of the ward. There must have been about fifty beds in that room, most already had residents but Sanji was guided to an empty one and told to stay put, it was nearly time for bed anyway. The guards left him to stand by the door monitoring the other patients coming in. 

Sanji's bed was in the far left side of the room. There was a man in the bed to his right but he was already asleep. He gazed down at the bed, the white sheets were stained and did not look particularly clean. While he was standing there the lights were shut off. He slipped off his shoes and into the uncomfortable, dirty bed. He tried to relax but with an empty stomach and itchy sheets it was more easily said than done. He wondered what Zoro was doing. The marimo must have noticed he was missing, hopefully he would not do anything too rash. He imagined that he'd never been taken at all. Zoro would have come home, they would have eaten dinner, fooled around a bit, and gone to bed together. That's what he wanted.. Maybe he really did need help. 

XxxX

In the morning Sanji was nudged awake by one of the nurses who handed him a new set of clothing, which he sluggishly put on. The shirt was too large and the pants were too short length wise and too wide around the middle. When he was dressed he walked out with the other patients to the cafeteria. He steeled himself for the shitty food he was about to eat. It did not disappoint, he was given bland, clumpy oatmeal. The refined chef inside him screamed in protest but food was food. 

He sat at a table by himself, not really sure of where to go. Just as he started eating a man approached him, "You're in my spot," he said in a low voice. 

Sanji internally groaned, he did not want to make enemies on his first day, "Sorry," he apologized, moving to sit on the opposite side of the table. The man did not look happy about this but did not protest. 

"I haven't seen you before, you new?" he asked, Sanji nodded, his mouth filled with gluey oatmeal, "What are you in for then?"

Sanji swallowed, "Nothing, I'm not sick," he said, knowing the guy probably would not believe him. 

"Right, of course not," the guy said in a patronizing voice, "What's your name then?"

"Sanji."

"Gin," the man stuck out his hand. As they shook hands Sanji hoped that this guy wouldn't be some sort of psychopath. He seemed normal enough. 

"Alright, Gin, how long have you been here?" the blond asked. 

"Two years," Gin answered, "I was a foot soldier stationed over in Japan. When I came back I couldn't stand it. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't go out. My sister finally committed me. I've been here ever since."

"And do you always sit at this table by yourself?"

"The boss is in solitary right now, so I'm on my own for a while."

Sanji was not able to ask who this boss was because he was interrupted by some commotion a few tables down. There was a nurse standing over one of the patients who's chair he had knocked over. The patient was making a gurgling noise but not moving. 

"Get up!" Shouted the nurse, kicking the man in the side. 

Sanji made a move to stand up and help but Gin grabbed his arm and shook his head, "Not worth it," he whispered. So, Sanji watched in horror as the gurgling patient was dragged out of the cafeteria. 

"Does that happen often?" Sanji asked, turning back to Gin 

He shrugged, "Yeah, not much we can do about it. If you try to intervene it just makes things worse for you."

It was like he had entered a whole new world. He wondered if this was how Zoro felt when he was in those camps. I reminded him of a weird little fish tank, except all the other fish wanted to hurt him. 

After breakfast he and Gin parted ways, it was time for Gin's treatment. Whatever that was. There was not much to do in the ward so he just sort of wandered the hallways watching the patients and nurses walk by him, also searching for some means of escape just in case. He could not find one. This place was horrible, he wanted a cigarette. 

XxxX

After lunch nurses picked him up and took him to a psychiatrist's office. It was time for his first formal secession. During this secession Sanji promptly ignored the doctor and denied all implications that he made. 

After about half an hour of getting nowhere the doctor gave up, "Alright, Mister Noir, you can go. I am prescribing the use of a Self-Injurious Behavior Inhibiting System. That way you can't hide from the issues. Your treatment will start this evening after dinner, good day," he mumbled, ushering Sanji out the door. 

That did not sound good, particularly the self-injurious part. Sanji spent his time before dinner wandering about, worrying over what would happen to him. By this time he was feeling jumpy and he felt a massive headache coming on. He really needed a cigarette. 

At dinner he sat at Gin's table again, picking at his food. 

"Hey, Gin, do you know what a Self-Injurious Behavior Inhibiting System is?"

Gin gave him an odd look, "Sure, it's a kind of shock therapy. They give it to people with addictions or weird sex illnesses," he narrowed his eyes, "So which are you?" He was leaning toward sexual illness but the guy did look strung out at the moment. 

Sanji looked back down at his food and did not say anything for the rest of their time together.

XxxX

The treatment room Sanji was taken to had a chair bolted to the floor with restraints, a box with wires hanging out of it, and a projection machine. This gave him a feeling of extreme trepidation. The doctor was there setting up the box and fiddling with knobs, "Ah," he exclaimed, looking up, "Please take a seat."

Sanji made no move, whatever this was it could not be good, so one of the nurses shoved him forward. He stumbled and when the other nurse grabbed his arm he panicked, swinging his leg in a deadly ark that the man just barely avoided. Seeing that they were going to need help with this one the man ran to the door and called out for back up. Four more people came to their aid. It took a good ten minuets, but they managed to force the patient, literally kicking and screaming, into the chair. 

The blond struggled against the restraints, but he was completely immobile, he could not even move his head. When he was completely secure one of the guards gaged him then unbuttoned his pants, sliding them down as far as the restraints would allow, leaving Sanji exposed. Electrodes were attached to his genitalia and the projector was started up. 

The film contained pictures of people which the doctor would flick through. These people were doing various activities. Some were playing the piano, or walking hand in hand, while others were of people in various states of undress or sexual action. There were both heterosexual and homosexual couples on the film. Every time there was a homosexual couple, or any man shown a blinding shock was delivered. The treatment lasted about forty minuets and by the time it was over Sanji was ready to curl up in a ball and die, that's how painful it was. He could hardly imagine the pain he would feel given that he had to have this treatment four times a week. 

He was dragged back to the room with the beds after it was all over and was instantly asleep. 

XxxX

The next day Sanji felt horrendous. He trudged into the cafeteria, got his food and slumped onto the table where Gin was already sitting. 

"Not so fond of the treatment I see."

Sanji groaned in response. He forced himself to eat, but the pasty meal made him nauseous. Before he was done nurses approached him, he assumed to take him to his next treatment. 

One nudged him, "Time to go," he said irritably. Not having a good day, apparently. Sanji didn't give a shit, so he just gave a defiant look and turned back to his oatmeal. This infuriated the guard, who grabbed him by the hair and jerking him back causing the chair to topple over 

"Come on, get up, faggot," he said loud enough for everyone to hear, grabbing the blond by the arm and dragged him to his feet. Sanji would have kicked him, but in that moment he could barely lift is legs to walk let alone kick the fucker's head off. He ended up right back in that chair again. 

XxxX

He forced himself to go to lunch only because he had thrown up the contents of his stomach after his treatment. 

Gin gave him a weird look as he sat down, "So you're a fag then? You do look the type."

Sanji just glowered at him, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're kind of girly looking is all."

"Fuck you," he said scathingly, "Aren't you going to find somewhere else to sit or make me leave?"

"Nah, you seem alright and it's hard to find good company here. Just don't touch me and we'll be alright," he gave an uncomfortable wave of his and toward Sanji, "And you should watch your back. A lot of the fags that come through here end up in a bad way."

Sanji took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to keep his temper in check. Where was that cigarette? He was dying here. 

XxxX

Life in the hospital became a routine; get up, eat breakfast with Gin, resist going to SIBIS therapy four times a week, wander around the building, eat lunch, listen to a psychiatrist prattle on about how disturbed he was, wander around again, and go to bed. Most days the nurses had the patients clean around the hospital, scrubbing the floors and such, it was terribly tedious. Sanji wished he could work in the kitchen, or at least kick the cooks who made such poor quality food. 

Some days they were allowed to wander the grounds, one would think they would look forward to this but it came with a price. When they were out the other, more serious patient were also out too. These patents were extremely sick, shouting, contorting themselves, and talking in hushed tones. The worst of them had to be roped together and lead by a nurse. It was a very sad sight. Then on Sunday the best behaved patients were allowed to attend a small church ceremony, fanfuckingtastic. 

He wasn't allowed to have visitors either, most patients were allowed to see people if they bothered to come but the doctors forbade him from seeing anyone. Something about getting back into old habits or coming in contact with whomever he had unholy feeling for. Fuck that, seriously. 

After his week of resisting treatment Sanji was prescribed a drug that was supposed to calm his resilient behavior. He, of course, only pretended to take it and when the the nurses caught on they started holding him down and forcing him to take his medicine. The medicine made him feel all out of sorts, he felt sluggish and heavy. He was still resisting the SIBIS as much as possible. The thing was pretty much pure evil, after a while he developed blisters where the electrodes had been placed on his skin. 

He also had to avoid as many people as possible after they figured out his diagnosis, they did not take kindly to his type. Not everyone was bad, some of the guards and nurses looked just as horrified as him that abuse was going on. Plus, Sanji would never say anything bad about the female nurses, even when they were the ones abusing patients. 

The talks with the psychiatrist were the worst, Sanji refused to talk so he just had to listen to the guy go on and on about how sick he was, and how what he was feeling was so wrong. He grew more and more unhappy by the day. He wanted to be back home with Zoro and his friends, how could it be so wrong?

About a month in Sanji met Don Krieg, Gin's so called boss. He would never tell anyone why he was committed, he made up a new story every time. Sanji thought he may well be in for being a compulsive liar. He had been held in a different ward for a while after being unruly. Apparently, he had been held in solitary confinement all that time. 

Don Krieg did not like Sanji, he belittled him as often as he possibly could, which was a lot. Don Krieg also had a crew he went around with. He kept Gin with his crew and away from what was now just Sanji's table. Until he was taken back. He came and went, Gin always came back while he was away. Sanji could not understand why he was so loyal to that guy. 

Sanji did eventually get to know some other patents. There were a few people who did not seem like they should be there but there were others who went on mumbling to themselves, rocking back and forth, throwing terrible fits, and claiming paranoid plots against them. 

It was the worst to see the kids there, this was not a place where children should be. Well, not exactly kids, young adults who were too old for a children's center. For a while one of the kids followed Sanji. It was kind of nice to have someone to talk to. Unfortunately, one day one of the nurses noticed them walking around together and pulled the kid aside. He did not follow Sanji around after that. He was not sure what they told him but no one went near him anymore. He assumed that it had something to go with the homosexuality thing which for some horrifying reason people seemed to associate with being involved with any young boy they could find. 

He met a few other people in for homosexuality. The nurses tried to keep them apart for obvious reasons, but he did at one point meet them. One man seemed just as normal as any other person, but had committed himself after his urges started to overwhelm him. Another was a cross dresser, committed by his family. The third of them was beaten to death a few days after Sanji met him. 

XxxX

Zoro and Luffy were plotting, they wanted Sanji back and they were not going to let doctors keep their cook away. They planned it out as carefully as they could, they even scouted the hospital out to the best of their ability. The first thing they had tried was going into the visitor's center but the people there told them Sanji wasn't allowed to see anyone so they went into planning mode. Maybe it wasn't the most well put together plan ever but it was all they had. 

They decided that they would sneak in through the one of the back doors, jump one of the doctors or whatever they were and search for Sanji. 

It was evening when they set the plan into motion, dark but not too dark. They moved swiftly toward the building, Zoro was almost suprised when they made it to the building without being spotted. Luffy poked his head around the corner and spotted someone going out the door. Perfect. They grabbed the guy, who was a nurse, knocked him unconscious and stole his outfit. Zoro took his cloths, they were a closer fit. It was weird, they kind of looked like a fancy outfit really. He tied a bandana around his head to cover his oddly colored hair as well. 

When they were just about ready to move on a female nurse came out and gaped at them. They quickly took her out as well and Luffy took her outfit. They didn't want to take down more people than they had to and as long as Luffy kept his head down they should be fine. They did leave the girl in Luffy's cloths, you know, for the sake of modesty. 

So, they were in but they had no idea where to go. They walked through the halls carefully, mindful of everyone who walked by, Luffy walked closely to Zoro to keep from being spotted but they still looked pretty odd. They had to go quickly before someone started asking questions. 

Zoro trusted his feet to take him to the right place. They always got him to where he need to go eventually, no matter what Sanji might say. And when he spotted the flash of blond he was looking for down the hall he dared let himself hope. 

Sanji was on his way to therapy, he was slouched and glaring angrily at the floor. He knew if he didn't show up it would be worse, but he couldn't help but drag his feet. He wasn't the compliant type. As he was walking one of the nurses grabbed him by the arm. 

Sanji automatically jerked his arm back and tried to brush past him when he heard a familiar voice. 

"Hey cook, guess who." Sanji's head snapped up and saw he was actually standing in front of Zoro and Luffy. 

"What-?" He started, wondering if the nurses had smuggled some sort of drug into his dinner. 

"We're here to break you out," Luffy hissed with a wide grin. 

"What the fuck are you wearing?" the blond asked, eyes on the nurse's dress Luffy had on. 

"We'll explain later, first, we have to get you out. Come on." Zoro turned back to go through the hall, but Sanji stopped him. 

"Hang on, we can go through the visitors' center, you can make it look like I'm being discharged." he pointed down another hall. 

"Yosh, let's go!" 

They set off, Sanji guiding the two morons ahead of him to make it look like he was being led out. 

They were nearly out when someone noticed something was up. It was actually Sanji's psychiatrist who noticed them. The guy was walking toward them when he saw Sanji. Whenever he saw Sanji in the halls he tried to make a point of talking to him in hopes that it would make his patient feel more comfortable. It never did, but it was a good effort all the same. 

He walked right up and tried to start a conversation with him, "Mr. Noir, how are you?" he asked as charmingly as he could. 

Sanji tried not to appear as if he was up to no good, "Aller vous faire foutre," he said with a glare. Best not to deviate from the usual dialogue. 

The doctor let out a sad sigh, "You know if you don't cooperate I'll have to extend your treatment." Then his brows knitted together, "Where are you going anyway?" He looked toward the visitor's center, "You aren't allowed visitors." His gaze turned toward the 'nurses', "What-?"

He was cut off when Sanji kicked him aside, fuck that felt good. Once the guy was down they made a run for it as the doctor called out for someone to stop them. Ahead of them doors slammed shut, no way out. They doubled back Luffy and Zoro, being dragged by Sanji while they were chased by a horde of hospital staff. Sliding around a corner they ducked into an empty examination room, everyone ran past them. 

As they tried to catch their breath Luffy jumped on his blue eyed friend, "Sanji," he whined, "You have to come back with us. I need meeeeat and everyone is really sad, right Zoro?" He turned his head toward the marimo. 

Zoro nodded, he wasn't quite sure what to say. He was just glad to see the cook, although he looked rather gaunt and unhappy. It made him wonder what they did to him in this place. Sanji was giving him a weird look, he couldn't quite place the expression. 

"I'd love to come back with you," Sanji said, "This place is pretty shitty. We should probably lay low in here for a while, wait for them to move on."

Zoro nodded. 

"What do they do to you?" asked Luffy, curiously. 

Sanji grimaced, "Feed me shitty fucking food, give me some bullshit medicine, tell me how fucking sick I am... God dammit. It just sucks being here."

"Sorry," Zoro said quietly, he felt guilty that Sanji had to suffer through this because he convinced him that they were a good idea. 

Sanji lifted his eyes angrily, "Why the fuck are you apologizing? This isn't your fucking fault, dumbass. You should just be fucking happy I'm gracing you with my radiant presence."

Zoro hummed, "You're right, I've noticed a distinct lack of radiance since you've been gone. It's rather dark in the apartment, so I think you should probably come back with us. So I don't have to but new lightbulbs."

Sanji snorted, "Right, a man sent away for being a fag moves back in with his male roommate as soon as he escapes from the nut house. Sounds like a good idea, nothing suspicious about that."

Zoro grinned, "Eh, we can move away and nobody would suspect a thing. We could run away from all our problems."

"Can I come too?" Luffy asked excitedly. 

Sanji pinched his cheek, "Of course you can, idiot captain." He let the moron go and peaked out the door. No one was around, "Okay, I think the coast is clear. It's going to be difficult getting out of here so follow me closely. I want to escape." his eyes ran over his friends, this was his chance to get out and if he didn't.... Who knows how long he would be stuck there. His eyes lingered over Zoro, if only they could have a moment. 

As if reading his mind Luffy suddenly turned around covering his ears and saying, "La la la la la la la la, I'm not listening."

Sanji grinned, sometimes Luffy really did get it. Zoro snaked his arms around the blond and pressed their lips together briefly, it was very sweet. Ugh, they didn't do sweet. "I love you," the Japanese man whispered. 

"I love you too, let's get the fuck out of here," Sanji murmured before grabbing Luffy and charging out the door. 

They were as stealthy as they could be, but everyone was on patrol so they ended up being chased again. All the exits were blocked, there was no escape. However, Sanji had an idea, he guided them into a first story room and smashed some weird medical instrument through its high window. Sanji hoisted up Luffy because he was the shortest while Zoro held the door against a vicious assault. By the time Luffy was out Zoro could barely hold it back. There was no way both of them could make it out and they both knew it. 

"Go!" Zoro shouted, there was no way he was going to let the cook stay here. 

Sanji set his jaw determinedly, "No way, you'll get arrested and I'll get hunted down. I'm not leaving if you're not and there's no way I'm letting us both be caught."

"Well, I can't let you stay here. Who knows what they'll do to you. You could come out a completely different person. Fuck, there's no time to argue about this. Get the fuck out now!"

Sanji leaned in very closely, "Zoro," he said very carefully, "If you don't get out of here I will never forgive you and I will never forgive myself. So, get your fucking ass out of here." He meant every word and Zoro knew it, but he couldn't stand to go. 

"Fine," he said though gritted teeth, "But you better fucking come back, Sanji." They switched places. Sanji now had his back pressed to the door, Zoro dragged the desk across the room and braced it against the door. It would not hold but it would buy time. With one last farewell kiss Zoro was up through the window. 

As soon as he was through Sanji made his attempt. The desk was pushed aside while Zoro and Luffy were trying to pull him through. He was pulled in two different directions but the hospital staff won the battle. His was out was gone. His flicker of freedom snatched away. 

XxxX

An investigation was underway to uncover who exactly tried to break the blond out, but nothing concrete was found, luckily. They tried to get Sanji to tell them, but no matter what they tried he refused to talk. He was placed in the difficult ward with the more dangerous patients and his therapy intensified. 

After a few months Sanji finally started talking to the psychiatrist just to get him to shut the fuck up. He didn't even care to deny it anymore, there wasn't any point. He just talked about whatever he was told to but he never talked about his relationship with Zoro, only that he wished they could have had one. Not long after that the doctor diagnosed him with depression and giving him more pills to swallow. Of course he was depressed, he was stuck in a dirty, dingy hospital where he was tortured and everyone reminded him of how horrible he was. The fact that there was nothing to do also left a lot of time for introspection, which didn't help. He started helping the nurses to make beds or just did whatever the female nurses told him to just so he could stop thinking so much. 

His therapy also progressed, the doctor was now making him press the button on the bad slides, forcing down his thumb, and it was not so hard to get him into the chair either but that was partially because it caused a great deal of pain to struggle. 

He was not ever really sure how much time passed while he was there. The only way to know was to ask the nurses or doctors and sometimes they lied. Time was strange there, it felt slower somehow. 

About a year in Sanji got into a massive fight with the security officers after trying to make another escape. He had nicked some keys off of a particularly stupid nurse and in the middle of the night he slipped out of the bed room while the nurses were changing shifts. He managed to sneak all the way to the visitor's center when someone spotted him, then he was swarmed by nurses. 

He fought them off as they weren't very good fighters, but all it took was one guy to grab his ankle and yank it. His head smacked against the white tiled floor, which stunned him. Of course, by this time someone had a needle ready and he was sent into the dizzying darkness. 

He woke up in a cushioned room and given time to think about what he'd done. It was terrifying because no matter how long he screamed no one would answer him and he lost all track of time. Being stuck alone in a room for so long can do funny things to your head. It did not help that Sanji's head was throbbing from the trauma he had received earlier. 

After this incident he was moved to another part of the ward for the hysterical patients, diagnosed with mania, and started on electroconvulsive therapy, they tried to shock him out of his manic behavior. 

That morning instead of going to breakfast he was held down at the ankles, thighs, arms, head, and bite piece was placed in his mouth apparently to stop him from biting his tongue. He struggled against the arms holding him down. Electrodes were placed on either side if his head, a button was pushed and he blacked out. Sanji was not aware of this, but his body jerked into a convulsive fit. He seized for only a few minuets before coming awake again very disoriented. This procedure was carried out once a week, sometimes he had to be shocked more than once. The whole thing left him in a lot of pain because they didn't use any anesthetic and very, very tired. Oddly enough, it did make him feel better mood wise. 

XxxX

February 9, Joseph McCarthy claimed to have a list of communists and sparking a witch hunt. With raising fear of the Soviet Union people jumped on the McCarthyism band wagon. People do strange things in times of fear, black lists of communist became a normal thing and trials were held to hunt down the red commie bastards. 

XxxX

June 25, the Korean War began. This was the war of the communist North Korea against the capitalist South Korea. Men once again began to be drafted and sent off to war. 

Luffy was sent off July 15. He was sad to leave his Nakama, but he was alright with going back to combat. He was a little not right in that respect. 

XxxX

July 10, 1951, Sanji was approached about a surgery that would cure him of his urges and depression. It was fast and he would being on a faster road to recovery. They did ask him directly after one of his treatments while he was slightly out of it on his medication so he was kind of coerced into it but by this point Sanji didn't really care anyway, he was hoping more than anything that he would die on the table. He did not think they would ever release him and he still wanted to go back to Zoro, so the current treatment was obviously not working as well as it had at first. Now it just made him hate himself that much more. Thus, he agreed to the surgery. 

Three days after he had consented he found himself laying on his back on a cold metal table. The doctors sent him into a electroconvulsive fit like they usually did for his electroshock therapy, but this time only to knock him unconscious while the surgery was preformed. They had to give it four goes before he was out. 

When Sanji was out the doctor pealed back his right eyelid and slid a long, ice pick like tool called a orbitoclast into the upper side of the socket, careful to avoid the eye. A mallet was used to tap the pick through the bone in his head and into the brain about five centimeters then pivoted at forty degrees toward the nose before being returned to the original position and being pushed in another two centimeters and pivoted at twenty eight degrees in both directions. The orbitoclast was removed and the same thing was done to the other eye. 

The whole procedure was over in just ten minuets but Sanji did not wake up for another two hours. He was in the hospital's medical care ward when he woke up. He was completely disoriented, he had a splitting headache, his eyes were swollen, and he developed a high fever. He stayed in that bed for four days, during which he mostly stared out ahead if him blankly. He felt like a zombie. 

When he was was no longer feverish he was let out into his ward. He had two black eyes and an empty feeling inside him. 

About a week after the surgery Sanji was walking down one of the long hallways when a strange feeling came over him, a weird sort of tingling. After a few minuets his muscles started to jerk before he lost consciousness. When his eyes opened again a female nurse was kneeling over him, holding him down. He was laying on his side and he could not remember how he got there. He was all out of sorts, he tried to speak but the words would not come out right. The nurse shushed him and he did not protest, not that he had the energy to, he felt utterly drained. A few minuets later he was able to sit up and ask what had happened. She explained to him that he had just had a seizure. 

This seizure became one of many as a sort of aftershock or echo of the shock therapy. He was given more medication that did reduce the effects, but not as well has he had hoped. At least they stopped zapping him, it was starting to fuck with his brain, making things difficult to remember. 

In the months following, Sanji's will to resist faltered as he followed a dull and painful routine everyday. He did exactly as the nurses and doctors told him to like an robot. He felt disgusted with himself and with nothing to do but soak in self hatred he started to fall apart. 

During one of his visits with the psychiatrist he had a total breakdown. He was a sobbing mess on the floor and he talked about every obscene act he had ever committed. He refused to give a name, he still refused to incriminate Zoro, although it probably would not have mattered if he did because most of what he said came out in incomprehensible French. In fact, that probably saved his ass because they did not send him off to some prison the following day. He cried until he was sick on the floor. The doctor told him that all of this was a major step forward toward his recovery, but he did not feel any better. 

XxxX

November 1, 1952, the United States tested the fist hydrogen bomb. One must always be one step ahead of the Russians. 

XxxX

November 4, Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected president. 

XxxX 

December 19, the doctors decided to start Sanji on insulin coma therapy, given that his previous treatments had failed to work. Early, before breakfast, he was lied down in a bed in the Insulin coma therapy unit. Doctors recorded his vitals before injecting insulin into his bloodstream, dramatically lowering his blood sugar levels. Sanji was prone to "dry" comas where the skin would be hot, dry and his muscles would twitch before leading into a full seizure. "Wet" comas were not fun either, they were named thus for the profuse sweating and goosebumps they brought. Luckily for him the insulin tended to subdue him rather than excite him so most of the time he did not need to be restrained. 

In the first stage of the coma he would no longer respond to voice and touch. In stage two eye movement wandered, then would stop, sweating and temperature spiked, tendon reactions stopped, and breathing became slow and difficult. About fifteen minutes after stage two he was brought out of the coma by a thin rubber tube going through his nose into his stomach administering the glucose. 

It took him usually ten minutes to gather himself and realize where he was. Upon waking the bed was often soiled and he was soaked in sweat. He would be given a shower, clean clothes, and then breakfast. He would be absolutely starving and he knew that people on this treatment tended to gain a large amount of weight so he exercised as often as he could while he was on it. 

The hunger pains reminded him of back when he was a kid in France. It was 1930, he was nine years old hand had run away from the orphanage where he had lived. His family had been very poor from what little he could remember. His father had died when he was five in a factory accident, something not terribly uncommon for the time, and had left his mother to care for him alone. He had better memories of her, she was kind and gentle, although he had not known as a child he realized now that she was a prostitute. One night when he was seven she never came home and he was shipped off to an orphanage. 

He hated that place, the only thing that made him happy there was the kitchen, even though the workers were not very nice to him. The year that he left there had been an influx of children taken in and the place was practically overflowing. Sanji made the dumb decision to leave in search of somewhere better. For weeks he slept in the streets, begging for food or work, but who wasn't? The landscape was war torn, the country was massively in debt, the government was unstable, they had spent a massive amount of money on a an intricate line of defense that would not hold up against Germany in the future, no one had jobs, and it was all very depressing. He was always hungry, starving in fact, his cheeks thinned and any excess fats withered away. 

When he felt he couldn't go on any farther he was stumbling down some ally and collapsed, unwilling to take another step. As fate would have it he had collapsed outside the back door of a restaurant named the Baratie just a few minutes before the owner stepped out do the trash. 

Sanji did not really remember what happened after he was discovered because he was unconscious but he opened his eyes in a soft bed without such a horrible aching in his stomach. Zeff brought him back to life and kept him around, teaching him all he knew. He was forever indebted to that old bastard and now he could never really pay him back for that kindness. He may not even be able to fulfill his dream of owning his own restaurant. 

He tried his best to hold onto these memories because the insulin therapy stole many childhood memories from him. It also left he with a difficulty in remembering words, or rather confusing them with other words. It did not help that English was not his first language so half the time he would know the French word but not the English one. 

XxxX

The Korean War ended July 27, 1953. Luffy came home and was disappointed to find that Sanji was still not back. A while back Zoro had found a new apartment for himself, he took Sanji's stuff with him. 

From what Zoro heard form the captain this war had been different. It was all gorilla warfare, there were no real means of holding ground. It was chaos. It didn't even have a real victor in the end. 

Nami felt horribly responsible for Sanji being gone. To be fair, it was all her fault but she did not think that he would be gone so long, and neither did Robin, who shared her grief. They all thought he would have been out by now but no one had heard any word from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aller vous faire foutre means go fuck yourself. 
> 
> So , when I was rereading this I realized I didn't make Sanji defiant enough. So, I had to fix some of that whiny bullshit because I hate it when Sanji's all mopey. Not that he doesn't have I right to be, I'm terrible to him. 
> 
> Mania, or Manic-Depressive Disorder, is an old fashion version of bipolar disorder. I guess it wouldn't be a large leap to make for the doctors to come up with this diagnosis, but in this story I would not say that Sanji is bipolar, at least anymore than usual. 
> 
> The Self-Injurious Behavior Inhibiting System was an actual device used to correct homosexuality through negative reinforcement. It sounds immensely painful and just plain cruel. Poor Sanji had to deal with the after affects of this treatment as well as cigarette withdraw, which peaks at about 48 hours. 
> 
> ECT is a practice that is still sometimes used in cases of extreme depression. It's way more humane now with actual sedatives used. It can cause some nasty side affects like memory loss.
> 
> The transorbital lobotomy was invented by Walter Freedman, along with the help of James Watts, as a quicker way to preform a Lobotomy, without cutting open someone's head. Over 5,00 were preformed in 1949, the peak year. Over 18,000 were preformed in the US by 1951. Over 50,000 were preformed in all. Effect varied in patients; some improved, some became vegetables, some suffered form seizures, personality changes, some suffered memory loss...etc. 
> 
> Thanks.


	10. I'll Drown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of sunlight?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You'll never escape from this sad,   
> sad house.   
> I take his hand.   
> We sink.   
> I'll drown when I see you,   
> I'll drown when I see you,   
> I'll drown when I see you,   
> I do.
> 
> -"I'll Drown" Sóley

August 14, the soviets tested a hydrogen bomb. Everyone loves a bit of Mutually Assured Destruction, we live in mad times after all. 

XxxX

In 1954, the drug chlorpromazine, or thorazine, was approved for use in the United States. It was advertised as a chemical lobotomy and was given liberally in the wards. This really put the nail in the coffin for the lobotomy, or, you know, ice pick in the head, sometimes it was the same thing. 

Other antipsychotic drugs became popular in this time. Sanji hated them, they made him feel slow and did not help with his depression. If anything they made it worse so he stopped taking them in order to have a clear head. 

XxxX 

May 22, 1955 Sanji was released form Camarillo. Deinstitutionalization of the mental hospitals became popular after rumors spread about the conditions inside them. It was decided to reduce the number of patients that year, so they cut lose people who tended not to be psychotic and once that person left they removed their bed so that no one would take their place. 

Sanji was taken to the admissions clerk to retrieve this things. It was the same lady who he had seen when he had come in. She gave him the clothes he had come in with and told him that he would have to stay with a friend because the man he had been living with had moved. She also gave him the new address and the twenty five dollars all patients were given upon release. 

Sanji realized the absurdity of what the clerk had said. He had faith that his friends would be happy to see him again, but many of the people in that place had no one. If they were released they would be released onto the streets with no way to care for them. 

Before they left Sanji changed back into his old cloths. They felt very comfortable compared to the rough fabrics of the ward's clothing. The last person he saw before leaving was his doctor, who congratulated him on his release. Fuck that guy. He was told that he could go down to his local pharmacy for any necessary medications and if he ever had anymore problems to just go see a doctor on the outside. 

The evening air was warm and dark like a blanket as he took his first steps outside in what seemed like forever. He was taken to the address that the clerk had given him by a car similar to the one that had brought him in. His last look at the ward was a hate filled glare, he hoped to never go back. 

He arrived at the apartment complex an hour later. He was quite surprised they even bothered to keep track of the address. He supposed that they had to provide at least a tiny bit of care for him outside of that place. 

In no time at all, he was standing in front of the door, trying to force himself to knock. He had to think about what he was doing. Did he really want to go straight back to the life he had left behind? That's what got him put away in the first place. With his fist hovering over Zoro's door he at the last movement made the decision to turn on his heels and walked out. He would get a hotel for the night, he could not go through all of this again. He was better now. Yet, he was still there, and he had not actually turned and walked away. He told his legs to move but he seemed to be frozen. Well, I mean, while he was stuck there he may as well see if Zoro was in. 

He held his breath and tapped the door with his fist. It was a Saturday, someone should be home, well, as long as his schedule had not changed. He waited a few moments before knocking a bit harder. There was a sound of footsteps and the door swung open to reveal a yawning marimo. Sanji's breath caught and he tried to remain calm, but he felt the way he had felt before when Zoro had been gone for so long. 

He pushed the feeling down, "Hi," he said, "I am guessing you have my stuff." 

Zoro was absolutely stunned. It was just a normal day and then suddenly, wham, Sanji's back. He looked worse for the ware, thin and very pale, with a blank expression plastered onto his face. The Japanese man pushed the door open further and stepped aside so that the other man could enter. Sanji took a few cautious steps forward into the apartment. He looked around like he couldn't believe he was actually there. 

"So, what the fuck happened?" Zoro asked, closing the door and walking further into the room. 

Sanji maintained a good distance between them. "I just came by to get some of my things," he said carefully. 

He was acting so strangely that Zoro wondered if he hadn't actually been replaced by some sort of alien imposter, "That's all?" he asked, "You've been gone six years. Six years and no one has heard anything from you." He took a stride forward. Sanji took one back. "What did they do to you?"

"They fixed me." Sanji knew he was lying, he felt worse than when he was brought in, but he wanted to get out of this room. He felt like he was suffocating, drowning in unwanted emotion, but this was his one chance to get off this one way train ride to disaster city. No matter how much it hurt. 

"Fixed you? Does that mean you're just going to walk out of here and avoid me for the rest of time then? There was nothing wrong with you in the first place," Zoro said angrily, continuing to walk forward. He was crowding Sanji into a corner, something that the blond obviously did not appreciate because he completely pressed himself against the wall behind him. When the Japanese man reached out to touch him he flinched back. 

Sanji's breathing sped up, he couldn't get enough air. He felt warm, black self-hatred churn inside him. Somehow he still wanted to be here with Zoro, being touched by him, being loved by him. His mind was telling him he wanted this, but the years of conditioning were causing a nauseating feeling to stir in his gut. 

Zoro's hand touched the side of his face gently. He bit his inner cheek hard enough to make the taste of iron full his mouth. He let out a shaky breath and pushed the hand aside. 

"I'm sorry," he said, "I'm just here to get some stuff." But was he? He had enough money in him to get a hotel for the night, he could have had the driver drop him off at the home of anyone else, and yet he came back to Zoro. 

Zoro looked like he had just been slapped, maybe Sanji really had been replaced because that blank expression was creeping him the fuck out. "Fuck," he breathed, "What the hell did they do to you? This is why I should have forced you out when I had the chance." 

Sanji scowled, it was finally a familiar reaction, "Shut your fucking mouth, asshole. If you blame yourself for anything that has happened to me then I have greatly underestimated the size of your brain, which I didn't thing was possible."

There was a spark of the Sanji he knew, he just had to provoke him out of hiding. He then ignored Sanji's protest and wrapped his arms around the chef.

Sanji made a whining sound in the back of his throat and struggled just a little bit. This whole situation was too much, it made his skin crawl, it had been too long sense someone someone had shown him positive attention in any real tangible sense. After a moment he went completely limp, leaning all of his weight on Zoro. 

The blond rested his forhead on Zoro's shoulder, feeling alien in his own skin, he didn't say anything for a long time, "It was awful," he finally mumbled in a dead sounding voice, "I missed everyone the whole time and they wouldn't let me write. When I wasn't being tormented I was walking around thinking about how I awful everything wa."

Zoro sighed sadly, "Was there anyone who wasn't horrible?"

"Some of the people weren't bad, I had a few friends, but they were the kind of people you're friends with just because you're stuck together, you know?"

Zoro hummed, "What treatment did they give you?" He almost did not want to know but at the same time he had to. 

Sanji sighed, "I started with SIBIS therapy, which is pretty much were they showed me gay porn and shocked me every time they switched the picture. Sort of. Then I had to have electroconvulsive therapy, which is where they electrocute you to induce a seizure. I went through insulin therapy, which is where they put you in a coma, and I had a transobital lobotomy, which is a sort of brain surgery except they don't cut open your head."

Zoro was positively revolted, "All of this and you still came back here? The treatment must be pretty fucking ineffective." All that to leave with the same condition he had come in with, and then some. 

Sanji gave a sad smile, "It was really effective in making me feel bad about myself, that's for sure. I mean, sure, I take it up the ass, but you don't have to make me feel so bad about it."

Zoro grinned slightly at that, "I think that might just be the most beautiful thing you've ever said."

"Shut the fuck up, you asshole. I'm having a difficult time here emotionally and I would appreciate it if you would act your age," Sanji said in a mockingly posh voice, then more seriously, "Being here right now is actually really hard because I still love you, don't get me wrong, but my mind is associating this sort of thing with a great deal of pain. I feel kind of sick, really sick actually, but I guess it's an interesting psychological phenomenon," he laughed dryly. 

Zoro swallowed thickly, "Don't do anything you're not comfortable with. I can move to the other side if the room or whatever you need," but he really did not want to let go. 

"If you let me go I will kick your ass, marimo." Then for whatever reason at that moment he was overwhelmed by the elation that he was out of that abysmal place, "Holy shit, I can't believe in actually fucking out," he let out a gleeful laugh before grabbing Zoro's face and pressing their lips together. Therapy be damned this was what he wanted right now. 

The Japanese man was a bit thrown by this sudden shift in mood but most certainly did not protest.

"Do you want to see everyone else?" He asked after they parted. It was kind of late but he thought he would ask just in case, it had been six years after all. 

"I don't think I can do it right now," Sanji replied, "I'm tired, and right now all I want to see is you, so my internal turmoil can go fuck itself."

And as far as Zoro was concerned, if that was what Sanji wanted that is what he would get.

XxxX

Sanji woke up disoriented. This was not an uncommon occurrence, he often woke up disoriented, but it took a while for him to register that he was not in a sickly smelling institution, instead he was laying wrapped in the arms of a green haired moron, inside of said moron's apartment. He wanted to lay there forever, but he felt gross and this was his chance to wash the institution off of himself. 

When he stepped into the shower he was comforted by the warm water, he took the bar of soap and began scrubbing himself down. However he found they he could not achieve a feeling of cleanliness. He scrubbed until the water was cold and his skin was raw. He knew that he should stop, he was getting upset. He bit the inside of his mouth and clenched his head, trying to make the feeling go away. Suddenly, he shut off the water and got out, grabbing a towel and leaning on the wall. That disgusting feeling was back, sloshing around inside him like a bubbling tar pit. Trying to push the feeling aside, he clothed himself and walked back into the bedroom. Zoro was of course still sleeping. Sanji walked over and sat on the bed beside him. He ran his hand through the short green hair, somehow it gave him a calming effect. He sat there until the Marimo woke up a short time later. 

When Zoro came back into awareness his first sight was of Sanji. He groaned and pulled the Frenchman closer to him. 

"Bonjour, marimo," Sanji said softly. 

Zoro sighed, he wished they could just stay like that all day. But on the topic of staying places, "Where are you going to stay?" he asked, his voice gruff with sleep. 

Sanji was momentarily confused because the question had no context, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you don't have a place to stay, unless you plan on staying here which sounds pretty good to me."

Sanji shook his head mournfully, "We can't live together anymore. That's what got me taken away in the first place." 

"I think we could do it. Nami was the one who noticed and pointed it out and she's a close friends, so it's not like it was all that obvious. Then she felt so bad afterward that she probably wouldn't say anything if you moved back in." Nami did indeed feel extremely guilty about the whole thing. 

Sanji wanted with all his heart to say yes to the offer but instead said, "I don't know. I guess we'll see how today goes." Then he swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up, marching into the kitchen. He hadn't had his hands on any real kitchen equipment in far too long. When he was 'getting better' he was allowed to work in the kitchen, but that was sort of an insult to his talent. There he had to prepare unpleasant, very bland meals and they punished him for telling other people what to do. 

Zoro did not have much in the way of ingredients, surprise surprise, but Sanji managed to make some spectacular omelets anyway. For a moment he felt completely back in his element. Zoro watched him with an amused look on his face. Yes, this was how it was supposed to be. 

"Who do you want to see first?" Zoro asked after breakfast. 

Sanji thought for a moment, "I want to see Nami first."

"Are you sure? I'd be totally pissed at her if I were you. Actually I am pissed at her anyway."

"I don't want her to feel bad about what happened, she was only trying to help me. I can't be mad at her for that. So what's been going on here in my absence then?"

Zoro rubbed the back of his neck,  
"Uh, Luffy was over in Korea for a few years, Robin and Franky got married, and Chopper is pouring all of his time into studying for medschool. That's all I can think of off the top of my head."

"Franky and Robin got married without me?" he pouted, disappointed he had missed such an important event for his friends. 

"It was two years ago. They wanted to wait for you to get back, but for a while we weren't sure you were coming back." The lack of Sanji had been an important issue in the wedding. "Weddings are overrated anyway."

"No they aren't, they are beautiful and they symbolize an eternal bond. Don't diss marriage, asshole."

"Whatever, if it were just and eternal bond of love, or whatever, then we would be allowed to get married."

"Well, a lot of people out there don't get how love works, nothing we can do about that. If we got married we would probably get lynched in the street or something."

"I would have married the hell out of you a long time ago if I could."

"Why does it sound like a threat when you say that?"

"I'm just a threatening guy."

"Who says I would marry a grass head like you anyway?"

Zoro poked the blond in the face, "You would have definitely married me, and you would have worn a pretty white dress and walked down the isle like a good little bride to be."

"Fuck you, I wouldn't wear a dress."

"But you would marry me?"

"Of course I would, dumbass."

"Bitch, as my wife you must respect me or I'll give you the hand," he raised his hand mock threateningly. 

"How about you shut your stupid mouth or I give you a foot to the face. Domestic violence is not funny, shit head."

"It's also not a serious crime because as my wife I can do whatever I want to you."

"Fuck you, I don't need a man to define who I am. I am my own person and, god dammit, I'm not your fucking wife!" Sanji shook his head, "This conversation has taken a dark turn. I went from a married man to an abused wife. I'm going to visit Nami."

"You have to go so soon?" Zoro whined. 

Sanji clicked his tongue, "I promise I'll be back, Marimo," he leaned over to kiss him on the mouth. He felt a flash of happiness, quickly followed by a wave of disgust at the sensation. 

Zoro glared at him, "You fucking better be or I'll drag you back here, shit cook."

XxxX

Before he paid Nami a visit Sanji stopped by a corner store and bought a carton of cigarettes and a lighter. He didn't mean to end up there, he might have just been temporarily turned around when he spotted the place. This started happening after the shock therapy, he had trouble finding his way around. It made him feel like Zoro and that is something he never wanted to feel. It was also terrifying to forget something that before you knew so well. 

So, he lit up the first cigarette of his return and walked down the road. When he was gone, a study had come out saying that cigarettes were bad for you. Who could have guessed? 

He arrived at Nami's apartment and knocked lightly at the door. Within a few seconds the door opened to reveal the lovely Nami in all her glory. 

"Bonjour, Nami," he said with a slight smile. 

Nami looked absolutely shell shocked for about ten seconds before she threw herself at the blond, hugging him as tightly as she could. 

"Sanji, I'm so, so sorry. Can you ever forgive me? I didn't think you would be gone so long. They didn't do anything horrible to you did they?" she rambled, holding him close. 

Sanji hugged her back, "I'm fine, ma Cherie, it's so good to see you again."

She drew back slightly, looking him up and down, "Are you sure? I just-"

Sanij cut her off, "I'm sure. It's so sweet of you to be so concerned," he wriggled around a bit, but it was a shadow of his usual performance. 

Nami looked unsure, but did not press further, "Where are you staying?" She asked, "Zoro had to move because it was too expensive to keep the place on his own, he still has your things, I think."

Sanji successfully maintained composure when Zoro was mentioned, but he felt an instinct to flinch back all the same. 

"I'm not sure yet, I guess I'll have to decide on that at some point, won't I?"

"You can stay with me for now," Nami offered. 

"No, I couldn't impose on you like this," the Frenchman said. 

"No, I'm the one who got you set away in the first place, so the least I can do if offer you a place to stay."

"Could you just give me the day to think about it?" Sanji asked weakly.

Nami sighed, "Fine, but for now we have to let everyone know that you're back. They'll be so happy, everyone was so upset when you left. Even Zoro was unhappy." then a cautious look came I've Nami's face, "Um... So, the treatments they gave you, did it work?" she asked. 

Sanji smiled his best smile, "Yes, they did," he stated, "I am glad to say that I was able to recover," that was a such lie, a very big lie. He hated to lie to Nami. 

Nami seemed marginally relieved, "Things won't be so awkward then?"

"They'll probably still be awkward, but now I'm not confused anymore."

He stayed a while later before heading off. It was so good to see her again. He visited Robin and Franky next, they were thrilled to see him and apologized for not waiting for him to return for the wedding. Apparently, it wasn't a very large ceremony anyway. 

Usopp and Brook were also very excited to see him, and then he made their final stop at Luffy's. It was the final stop because Chopper was staying over at his place for the weekend. A tiny break from med school. 

When Chopper opened the door his eyes went adorably wide. The door swung wider and he pulled him into a crushing hug. The kid had more strength than it appeared. Luffy soon also launched himself through the doorway. When the initial shock had warn off Chopper frantically looked him over, trying to visually see what they did to him while Luffy went on about what he wanted to eat. Seeing as it was nearly lunchtime anyway Sanji decided to cook for them. 

While he prepared the meal Chopper continued to question him on what they did and the medication they gave him. When he mentioned the lobotomy Chopper blanched. 

"A lobotomy!" He exclaimed, "Those can be really dangerous. Have you had any side effects from any of the treatments?"

Sanji nodded, "A little memory loss, some weird temporary stuff, and seizures."

"Is it bad? Are you taking medication?" Chopper was in full doctor mode now. 

"It's not so bad, I am supposed to take some medicine, but I'm not sure I want to."

"Sanji," Chopper warned, "You have to take your medicine if the doctors tell you to. They know better than you do."

Sanji hummed dismissively and continued cooking. What the fuck did his doctors know? Nothing. 

When the meal was finished they scarfed down their food they spent a good few hours going over everything Sanji had missed when he was away and some of what had happened to him in the ward. Sanji did not feel comfortable talking about it in great detail so he was purposely vague and left things out. Thankfully, no one pressed him. 

XxxX

Sanji made it back to Zoro's apartment around four and they mostly just enjoyed the down time they had together. 

"Are you going to try to get your old job back?" asked Zoro from where he was laying on the sofa. 

Sanji hummed, "Probably, I mean I'll have to tell the boss about the whole 'I was institutionalized' thing though and you know how that could go." This sort of condition was stigmatized and could lose him a good deal of jobs, "However, they already know I'm good and I'll probably kick the ass of whatever loser took my place. So, I think yeah, I'll try to get it back," he was also worried about the fact that the reason he had been committed would be on his record. He felt reassured that this would not hinder his worldly progress because Robin had subtly alluded to the idea that a strange fate may befall his records and that he needn't worry. Sanji did not ask, but he knew Robin would take care of it. Whatever it was. 

"Have you thought about where you're going to stay?"

"Ah," Sanji looked down at his feet, "Well, I think that given my current condition, if I am being honest, it would not be wise for me to live alone right now. That being said, I know that anyone I asked would let me stay with them, Nami even offered. Still, I would like to ask you if we can maybe live together again? I mean, I think you're right, only our friends know what happened to me and they aren't going to do anything now if things go back to how they were before. So yeah," Sanji looked again, toward Zoro. 

Mocked a shocked expression, "Did you just say I was right about something, shit-cook?"

"Shut up, shit head. I'm doing what you wanted so don't push your luck."

Zoro grinned, "I'll start looking for a place." Things were going back to how they were supposed to be. Well, almost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Historical notes and stuff:
> 
> Domestic violence became a serious crime in the 70s. The 70s! Why did it take so long?! And in states with sodomy laws in order to prosecute someone you first had to admit to a crime that they would punish you for. That is just messed up. It's kind of like how Allen Turing got outed, except his boyfriend/teen he may have paid for sex or boyfriend's friend stole from him so... Yeah. Poor guy, he was so smart. (XD and I wrote this even before The Imitation Game, great movie by the way)
> 
> The stigmas on mental illness were awful and they kind of still exist today to an extent, which I don't really understand. Now we have the ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act, which says people with disabilities can't be discriminated against but that didn't become a thing until 1990. Actually, I'm not sure that pertains to disability, but either way it's still awesome
> 
> Thanks.


	11. No Light, No Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And back down to bummer town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No light, no light in your bright blue eyes.  
> I never knew daylight could be so violent.   
> A revelation in the light of day.   
> You can't choose what stays and what fades away   
> And I'd do anything to make you stay.   
> No light, no light.   
> Tell me what you want me to say.
> 
> -"No Light, No Light" Florence and the Machine

Sanji talked his boss into hiring him back after he went over his condition and everything. He had a feeling that if he were any less skilled he would not have gotten the job back. Well, he didn't exactly get his job back. The boss told him he would be put on a lower job until he could prove that he had not lost his touch. It was annoying but it could have gone worse. Another plus was that Zoro had found a nice enough apartment for them and they happily moved into it. 

Not everything went so well. Two weeks after moving into the new apartment there was a mishap. Sanji had been ranting about something that Zoro had not been listening to when he suddenly went quiet. Zoro had looked over at him and he had a strange expression on his face. 

"Zoro," he said in an odd voice, "I'm going to have a seizure," he loosened his tie around his neck and took very slow steps toward the center of the floor where he sat down. Sanji was a little surprised, he hadn't just had a seizure with no prompts in a while; it was slightly worrying. 

Zoro grabbed a pillow and handed it to him, "What do you need me to do?" He wasn't a doctor. He didn't know how to handle this. 

Sanji had a sort of out of focus look on his face. "Just make sure I don't stop breathing. When I come out of it I'll make a choking sound but as long as I don't stop I'll be fine, and don't let me try to get up until I can respond to questions," he rubbed a hand over his face with a pained expression. 

"What does it feel like?" Zoro asked. 

There was a long pause, "Weird... Tingly and it hurts." 

"How long will it last?" He asked, Sanji did not respond so he repeated the question. 

"Not long... Just," he finally said, his eyes tracing the beams of the wooden ceiling, "keep talking.. To me."

And he did, not that he got much of a response. It was five minuets before the convulsions started, and those were fucking terrifying. It started slowly at first, slight involuntary twitches before he started violently shaking, his arms curling in toward him like a dead spider's legs, eyes fluttering and rolling back. It didn't last long, about a minute, but he started making a horrible choking sound, which lasted another maybe thirty seconds. Immediately afterward he started trying frantically to get up but Zoro held him down by the arms. 

"Calm down, you're okay," he shushed, pulling him into his lap to better keep him still, "Sanji calm down, you're okay." The struggling continued for a while but the blond eventually calmed down, breathing heavily and completely limp. 

"Sanji, can you hear me?" The chef looked around blankly, only focusing on his face briefly. He had to repeat the question a few times over the course of another five minuets before he could get a definite oral response. After it was all over Sanji laid on the floor breathing slowly, completely exhausted. It was awful every time for him. 

For Zoro the entire experience was scary, a word that he hated to use but it fit a little too well. It was a violent and unpleasant event that was out of his control. He could not stop this from happening, all he could do was watch and wait. He was not very good at that. 

Another really bad thing was the black mood Sanji would sometimes go into, mostly when he was left alone to think. Sanji found himself slipping into the dark ocean of mind and being drown in the current. Sometimes it would just be for a little while and he would perk up when he was around other people again but there were times when he felt so horrible he didn't want to get up or do anything. 

He couldn't just let hospital be in the past. It was a part of him that would not go away. He woke up with nightmares and was plagued by passing thoughts of suicide when it got really bad. At one point Zoro had come home to see him twirling one of his kitchen knives in his hand. Zoro had just passed it off as him being showoff-y but he had actually been considering stabbing himself. Not that he would have... Probably. Knives were very messy. He just... He wanted it to go away. 

He started feeling like he was dead weight to Zoro. The swordsman had to deal with his mood swings, weird medical side effects, and general bullshit. It didn't seem fair, he deserved so much better than he could provide. Part if his brain was suggesting that maybe this was just the depression talking but it was drown in the louder voices of self doubt. 

After about six months of being back Sanji was alone in the apartment, waiting for Zoro to get home but that was still a while off. He was laying on his back on the floor staring at the ceiling. It felt like the weight of the world was pressing down on him. What good was he doing by being there? He caused more problems than he solved. Would it be so bad if he stopped existing? Sure his friends would be sad but they would go on without him like they had when he had been away. The world would keep turning. Zoro would move on too, he wouldn't have this burden that Sanji had become to lug around anymore. Maybe he could find someone better, someone who didn't threaten to destroy his future. Someone who he could be happy with. 

Sanji felt a cold feeling tingle in his chest, he curled onto his side like he was trying to hold himself together. He thought about the fact that he could just end all of this in that moment. He could just get up and do it, all his problems would be solved. That was a untrue, he would just be leaving them for others to deal with but he told himself that it would solve everything. He got that weird far away feeling, like when you're standing on the edge of something very high and some distant part of your brain is telling you to jump. He really wanted to jump. 

He stood slowly and made his way into the kitchen. He looked at his beautiful cooking knives, it would be fitting to die by their sharp blade's edge but he didn't want to mar them with his blood. Instead he grabbed a bottle of his prescribed medication. He was supposed to take two a day to make him feel better but he hadn't been doing that. 

Time to make that jump.

Sanji took well over the recommended amount of pills. One after the other, they slid thickly down his esophagus. He grimaced. He had always hated taking pulls, it was just unnatural to swallow something that big whole. He looked around, what's done is done, there was no going back now. He sat down on the kitchen floor. It would be nice for him to spend his last moments in a kitchen, he liked the idea. 

And he slowly slipped into a pill induced slumber of death. He was not aware of his body jerking into convulsions or his stomach trying to reject the poison all over the floor. He would have been horrified at the mess it made. 

XxxX

Zoro walked through the door to his apartment having been let out early. He was glad he could get home because recently Sanji had been in a lower state of mind and being by himself for long periods of time did not help that. The moment he stepped into the apartment he knew something was wrong. Something was just off. 

"Hey, cook, where's my welcome home kiss?" He said mockingly. It took a bit of an effort because the aura in the apartment was dark and quiet. There was no response, there should have been shouting and threats but there was nothing. 

"Sanji?" He called out, walking into the kitchen. That's when he noticed the horrible smell of vomit. 

Sanji was lying on his side facing toward Zoro, his face smeared with puke. Zoro was not surprisingly alarmed by this, assuming that the cook had a seizure and choked on his own vomit which honestly wasn't too far from the truth. 

It felt unreal. Not in the cliché way that people say 'it felt like a bad dream' dreams didn't feel like this. He felt like he was witnessing everything through a cottony film, his heart rate sped up and time seemed slower than usual. 

Zoro grabbed the cook's face checking for signs of life. His heart lurched, he was alive and breathing very shallowly. Zoro didn't waste any more time. He ran to the phone and typed in the, when the operator picked up he demanded emergency treatment. He wished that he could just get Chopper but the hospital was closer. After the call was made he ran back to the kitchen. He carefully lifted Sanji and set him down on the sofa, grabbing a towl to wipe the ex-stomach dwelling liquid off his face. 

He couldn't lose Sanji, not like this. He ran his hand through Sanji's pretty blond hair, thinking about what might have happened if he hadn't shown up early from work. 

The paramedics arrived a few minutes later. They lifted Sanji onto a stretcher and took him down into an ambulance, Zoro was allowed to ride in the back seat. 

At the hospital Sanji was examined by doctors then sent away to have his stomach pumped and then they stuck a tube into his stomach and pumped in charcoal. Then the doctor came by to talk to Zoro, who was waiting impatiently. 

"We will have to keep your friend for a while, to check his mental condition," he said seriously. 

"What do you mean?" Zoro asked, they couldn't really think...

"Well, he overdosed on medication so we have to do a routine psychiatric follow up to make sure it was just an accident. Has he displayed any indications that he might be in any way unhappy?"

Zoro had known that Sanji had been going through some things. He always put on a convincing smile and said he was okay. He did not talk about the ward but he knew that he thought about it a lot. He would wake up with nightmares. Every time Zoro tried to get him to talk he would just avoid the conversation saying that he just wanted to get past it. Zoro did not want to think that this guy might be right to suspect suicide. 

He also didn't think Sanji would appreciate talking with a psychiatrist, not with the experiences he had. And besides, he wanted to watch Sanji, not a bunch of doctors, but he couldn't take the time from work if he wanted to keep his job and the doctors defiantly wouldn't let him go so he didn't have a choice. 

Zoro just sighed and did not answer the question. "How long will you keep him?" 

"That depends on how responsive he is. We will call you when it's over."

"Can't I talk to him first?"

"No, we have him sedated. We don't want him to wake up and hurt himself. Like I said we will call you," then Zoro was ushered out with a great deal of resistance. He didn't want to leave Sanji with these people. 

XxxX

When Sanji shifted back into the waking world he struggled to keep his eyes open. He was laying in a familiar hospital setting. He tried to sit up but a nurse rushed in and pushed him back down. Sanji breathed slowly trying to think back to how he got there. Ah! Right, pills. Zoro must have come home and found him. Fuck, this was such a dumb idea in the first place, now he was going to have to explain himself and that was going to suck. Fuuuuuck, why was he so fucking stupid. Seriously just fucking kill yourself. Nope, wait he couldn't even do that right. 

A little while later a doctor came in in his pristine lab coat, "Hello Mr. Noir, I am here to talk about why you are here." He smiled good naturedly. This did nothing to calm the unease that Sanji felt upon seeing him. He had to be a psychiatrist. 

"So you were rushed in after you overdosed on some meds. Any idea how that could have happened?" The doctor asked in a soothing voice. 

Sanji glared at him. "It was an accident." Yes, he was very convicting, not defensive at all. 

"Forgive me for being skeptical but you took a well over any recommended amounts."

"Well, if you've already made up your mind about this then why are you talking to me?"

The doctor sighed, writing something on his clipboard just like his other doctors. 

"When can I leave?" Sanji asked, although he wasn't looking forward to seeing Zoro. 

"We can't dismiss you right now, we have to keep you under observation."

"I want to go home."

"And we want you home too, we just want to make sure you are okay."

Sanji sat up, "I'm fine, send me home," he demanded. 

The doctor put his hands up. "Mr. Noir you need to calm down."

"Taisez-vous et laissez-moi tranquille," Sanji spat, yanking off the IV in his arm and trying to get up. 

The doctor pushed him back onto the bed and called for a nurse. The nurse grabbed a sedative from a drawer and Sanji was out like a light. 

When he was lucid enough to be aware of himself again he was confused to find that he was in a small concrete room. He was naked and tied to a bed frame so that he could not move. The room was featureless except for one high window where he could just about make out someone watching him and a toilet in the far corner. Needless to say this was very uncomfortable and left him feeling incredibly helpless. He had failed then and had to suffer the consequences. Everyone would know, they might even send him back to the nut house. This place kind of reminded him of the loony bin actually, it was dirty and people were always watching him. For everything Sanji was great at, he was not very good at dying it seemed. 

On that first day, every two hours doctors would come in and allow him to move about just a little bit. The second day he was allowed to freely walk about the room. They were always watching, at one point he sat under the window, pressed against the wall so that they couldn't see him but doctors rushed in and restrained him again. He was kept that way for the rest of the day. On the third day he was released again and he didn't try anything. Hours went by slowly, he had no idea how long he had been in the room. It felt like at least a week but he could not be sure. Time was a weird thing, it had a tendency to go all wibbly wobbly. 

XxxX

In the days Sanji was gone Zoro pushed himself through his work. He had no idea what to say to the cook when he got back, he just wanted to shake him by his scrawny neck and make him promise never to do it again- to make him go back in time to make sure it never ever happened at all, because holy fuck. 

He didn't tell everyone about it aside from Luffy. He went over to his place immediately after the incident, When Luffy heard the news he looked surprised and upset, two entirely justifiable emotions given the situation. 

Zoro ran a hand over his face. "Luffy, what the fuck are we going to do?"

"You have to make him talk about it. He has everything inside him and it's making him sad," said Luffy seriously. 

Zoro groaned, "I'm not good at all of that feelings bullshit." And he really wasn't, it made him want to jump out a window. 

"You have to try. The crew needs it's cook."

The green haired man sighed, knowing he was right. So that was what he planned to do. He had to try, not just for Sanji, for everyone. 

The call came from the hospital after four days. They told him that Sanji was ready to be picked up and they requested that he bring a change of clothing for the blond. They also told him that he would have to go for check ups every two weeks to make sure he was okay. 

He gathered the cloths and headed to the hospital. The first glance he got of the cook was him sitting in a chair in a waiting area wearing an ugly hospital gown and staring at the floor. There were nurses discretely watching him from the desk. When he saw Zoro approach he looked up but did not make eye contact even when he was handed his cloths. He just silently when to change in a nearby bathroom while Zoro sorted things out at the front desk. 

They told him that Sanji would be scheduled to come back every Saturday evening for a check up and he was given a prescription for anti depressants that would not interfere with his other medication. When Sanji returned he signed a few papers and they set off together. They didn't say anything but Zoro intently watched Sanji, who was still avoiding his gaze. It was an uncomfortable journey home to be sure. 

As soon as the door to the apartment closed Zoro turned on Sanji sharply.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" He asked through gritted teeth. Sanji said nothing, just stood there stubbornly staring at the floor, "Why would you- Do you even understand how horrible it was to come home and find you like that!? You should have fucking said something if you were that unhappy! You didn't have to-" he broke off with a groan. Shit, he needed to get himself under control. His eyes were burning and there was no fucking way he was going to start crying for fuck sake. 

Sanji was still staring at the god damn floor with a pained expression. 

Zoro closed the few steps between then and jerked his head up, forcing eye contact. "Sanji, just tell me what's wrong." he slid his thumbs over the soft pale skin. He could see the cook's eyes growing red and watery as he tried to keep his cool. 

"I'm sorry," he said in a broken and horse voice, "I just- I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, just tell me what's wrong."

"It's just- Every, everything's wrong. The medicine makes my head all fuzzy, I- I can't sleep, all I can think about is that- that fucking place, the doctors telling me how sick I am, the treatments, being around you makes me feel disgusting but being away makes me feel worse, and I just feel so awful inside, and I don't want to be a burden to everyone. It would just be easier if I were gone. I just want it all to stop, Je me dis de ne pas 'entre tel un peureux, mais cela n'aide pas. Je tenais simplement à s'egloigner de tout. Je sais que c'etait stupide, mais pour une raison quelconque, il s'est passe. Je suis vraiment desole." Tears were now streaking down his face and he was holding onto Zoro's arms like a lifeline. 

"Fucking hell, killing yourself won't make it any better. Everyone would be devastated if you died."

"Yeah, at first but then they would move on with their lives. The world would keep turning and you wouldn't have to be afraid of being arrested anymore."

"It would be more of a burden knowing that we failed to save you. Would you really want us to live with that because I couldn't do it. I love you, no matter how much you may hate yourself." He pulled Sanji close to him as the blond let out a strangled sob. "Tell me everything,"

And he got every grotesque detail of every horrible thing that had happened to him in that place, all of spilt from the clumsy mouth of a sobbing Sanji. As he listened to this usually strong individual go on about the horrible events that had taken place and stifled his apologies, the only words that came to mind was were synonyms of heartbreaking. 

Zoro sat there whispering, "It's okay. Everything will be okay. I love you," and rocking him back and forth like he could somehow hold him together until he had cried himself to sleep, then he carried him into their bed room. He went to bed knowing that this was only the first step along a long road and he had his work cut out for him, but for now he would sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The French was according to google translate: "Shut up and leave me alone."
> 
> "I tell myself not to be such a weakling but that does not help. I just wanted to get away from it all. I know that it was dumb but for some reason it happened. I'm so sorry."
> 
> 911 wasn't established as an emergency line until 1968 so people had to like call the hospital or tell the operator to call the hospital. And I didn't realize suicide watch was so terrifying. I don't know what it's like today but that is intense and it can last between 48 hours and 6 months. Also apparently charcoal is sometimes used to deal with overdoses. It seems kind of weird but whatever works. 
> 
> Also this song "No Light, No Light" makes me think of every sad story about Sanji ever. I love it so much. 
> 
> Thanks.


	12. This Isn't The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life goes on and on and on, nothing really matters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How close is the ending, well, nobody knows.   
> The future's a mystery and anything goes.   
> Love is confusing and life is hard.   
> You fight to survive 'cause you made it this far.   
> It's all too astounding to comprehend.   
> It's just the beginning this isn't the end.
> 
> -"This Isn't the End" Owl City

Sanji woke up from a very deep, dark sleep still feeling tired. He could tell it was still early, but he wasn't getting back to that state of restfulness again any time soon. His eyes felt dry and painful and his throat felt tight. He did not want to move, he did not want to face the world today. The world was far too cruel. Instead, he watched Zoro's chest rise and fall with his even breathing. The marimo was such a good person, when he wasn't being a bastard, too good for him. Anyone else wouldn't put up with all of his bullshit. Again, he felt the pull of the dark ocean inside him, but for now he chose only to lean in against the marimo and wait for morning to come. 

That morning progressed slowly because even after Zoro did eventually wake up they stayed in as long as they could. Zoro's stomach was what made them leave. Sanji was quiet, slightly embarrassed at his previous actions, but he was not as overly defensive as Zoro feared he would be. They did not do much that day, just laid around, Zoro enjoying the fact that Sanji was even alive, and Sanji seeking comfort away outside himself. 

XxxX

They couldn't keep the incident a secret for long. Everyone wanted to know why Sanji had been in the hospital so long, there was panic over Sanji's well being. 

Sanji hated to be at the center of this sort of attention and his face burnt in shame as he looked into the faces of his worried friends. He tried to assure them that he was getting through it but got the sense that no one really believed him. Even if he was being genuine. Talking with Zoro had helped a bit, it was like releasing a little bit of pressure from his full to bursting head. He just hoped no one would stick an ice pick into his eye to relieve this sort of pressure. 

He really did try his hardest to get better, but it was incredibly hard when the universe would not stop punching him in the face. About five months after his suicide attempt he was fired from his job. The person who had replaced him while he was away, a man named Fullbody, had obviously been pissed when Sanji came back to work and was inevitably promoted back to sous chef, so he did a bit of digging which lead him some interesting information, and this kicked up the metaphorical dust. 

He was snooping through Sanji's files and noticed some pages missing, thus he had to find out why. To be fair it was not an unreasonable thing to do. He then found out the details of his condemnation to the mental hospital. 

Now he had something to work with. He could just bring this up to the boss and let it be dealt with, or he could see if the sous chef was having any... illicit affairs and catch him in the act. This was the perfect opportunity for blackmail. Using a good quality camera that he borrowed from a friend Fullbody followed the blond around, learning his routines. The fact that he lived with another man was highly suspicious, he just needed one good shot. One might think this was a tiny bit obsessive but if he could pull it off it would be worth in it terms of blackmail money and a better job title. 

About two weeks later he was about to give up on his efforts when he finally got that one perfect shot. He was camped out on a bench across the street from their building. It was late, no one was around aside from them. They walked on the pavement side by side, talking about something he could not hear. He thought they would just keep going but the one with green hair grabbed Sanji's arm and pulled him closer. The camera rose as its photographer's heart beat heavily, this was it. Their lips met and-

Click. 

He had his picture. 

XxxX

Sanji flipped through the letters he had in the mail. He had all the normal stuff, bills and such, but when he saw an unmarked letter he was suspicious. Upon opening it his suspicion turned to horror. There was a picture in that envelope, a picture of him kissing Zoro. It was not of great quality, fairly dark and slightly distant, but one could tell what it was with ease. 

He remembered the night the picture showed, or he thought he did. He and Zoro were coming back from Usopp's house, both fairly drunk, and Zoro wouldn't wait until they were inside. They thought they would be fine, there was nobody around and it was pretty dark out so no big deal, right? Fuck. 

Sanji set aside the photo and unfolded the note behind it. 

"I have copies. If you don't want this getting out I suggest you pay the required amount. Three days from now you will go down to the nearest library and place the payment in the top third row of the S section."

The amount was a lot, not ridiculous but pretty close. Fuck whoever this was, Sanji was not going to pay them. He had heard stories about things like this happening. People blackmailing homosexuals because in order to go to the police they had to tell them why they were being blackmailed. Self incrimination. 

Sanji kicked over a chair in his anger, waking Zoro from the nap he had been taking on the couch. 

"Wah?" He said unintelligently. 

Sanji scowled at him, "We're being blackmailed, marimo."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah," he handed over the picture and the note. 

Zoro read the note, "Shit, we are not paying this asshole."

"Of course not. Now we have three days to figure out who the fuck this guy is, so I suggest we group up with everyone else."

"Sure about that?"

Sanji nodded, "Let's fucking do this."

They assembled the crew together at Luffy's. Sanji sat at the head of the table looking very put out, "Okay, here's the deal," he said, "The Marimo and I are being blackmailed, so we have three days to figure out who's doing it."

"What are you being blackmailed with?" Usopp asked in shock. 

Sanji waved his hand dismissively, "That is not important, what's important is that we get this bastard."

"Mr. Cook," Robin chimed in, "I think we would be better able to proceed if we know why exactly you were being held in such an unfortunate position. I'll make it simple; did they see something or do they have evidence?"

"It's a picture," Zoro stated bluntly. Sanji gave him a disapproving look but did not say anything. 

"A picture of what?" Chopper asked innocently. 

"Something compromising of course," Robin said knowingly, "Presumably whoever took the picture knew that I took something's from your official file."

"Can either of you think of anyone you've pissed off lately?" Nami asked, ignoring the previous statements. 

"I kicked some mugger's ass the other day," Zoro said, "I could have said something to upset someone at work. I don't know, maybe it was just a random thing."

Sanji hummed, "I doubt I was random. Um, I was recently promoted back to my old job over this other guy, I had to get rough with some of my coworkers but that's really nothing unusual."

The orange haired woman rested her hand on her chin, "The guy you got promoted over. What was he like?"

"He's pretty awful, arrogant, hot headed, pain in the ass... I don't think it would be him though, he might have the personality but no way does he have the balls."

"You never know," said Robin, "I would say he is our prime suspect. Watch him at work tomorrow, see if anything is off. There is bound to be if he is involved and ball less as you say."

That next day Sanji did just that, he subtly watched the guy out if the corner of his eye. He seemed the same as usual, maybe a little happy, but within a normal range. By the end if the day, Sanji was willing to say it defiantly wasn't him, but then something odd happened. When he was walking out the guy smirked at him when he thought Sanji wasn't looking. That was when Sanji ran out after him. He grabbed the guy by the back of his shirt and spun him around,"This is your fault isn't it?!" He demanded. 

The guy looked genuinely confused at first, a look that then became trained confusion, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah, bullshit, you know exactly what I'm talking about so I suggest you not play dumb about it or I'll have to do something violent. And that's not something you would want, right?"

The man steeled his face, "I would advise against that. I don't know what might happen if I we to be harmed but I imagine it would not be good for you."

Sanji narrowed his eyes, "If you give in now I can insure your safety," he was lying, he would totally kick this guy in the face anyway. 

The man knocked away Sanji's grip on his arm, "You can't touch me right now, so I wouldn't be making threats like that. I think you should follow my instruction and you will be fine, but for now I say good day to you." and he broke away, hurriedly walking toward his destination, wherever that was. 

Again the crew assembled after everyone was done with work. 

"Any idea who it is now?" Asked Nami. 

"It's that fucking guy whose job I took," Sanji said, "Its defiantly him, he threatened me while I was questioning him."

Usopp raised an eyebrow, "Were you questioning him or threatening to beat him up?" He was ignored. 

"So we need someone to break into his house and steal the picture."

"Nami!" Luffy shouted, "Nami knows how to pick locks."

Nami nodded, "I can do that. Do you know where he lives?"

Sanji shook his head, "He lives in some posh building, I remember him bragging about it to someone but I don't know where it is."

"Hacienda Arms?" Nami guessed, she made trips there sometimes for... Totally not shady reasons. 

"Yeah, that place."

"Okay, what's his name?"

"His name is Fullbody."

"And what is the picture I'm looking for?"

"You'll know it when you see it," Zoro spoke up. 

"Alright the plan goes into effect tomorrow."

XxxX

Nami set off for the Hacienda Arms the next morning before she knew that Sanji and the other chefs would be working. She leaned against the side of the buildings opposite the apartments, taking out a pair of opera glasses. It was less suspicious than using binoculars and she never really got to use her opera glasses. 

Lucky for her, Fullbody had an a place facing the road, so she could see in the window. She waited for him to leave for work. Then she got in by sneaking in behind one of the building inhabitance. When she reached the door to the place she knew had to be his she swiftly picked the lock before someone saw her. 

Nami pulled on a pair of gloves and began going over every inch of the place, careful to put everything back into the exact same place. About an hour later she discovered their hiding place. They were in an envelope taped to the inside of the bottom of his bedside dresser. She was slightly startled when she saw their image. It appeared Sanji really gone away for nothing. She sighed and pocketed the photos. He searched for another hour and found the film the pictures had been taken with and another copy in the closet. 

Mission accomplished. 

XxxX

When Fullbody came home he was alarmed to find his photos gone. One of the blond's friends must have stolen then while he was out. He was furious but it didn't matter anyway. He had already sent a letter to their boss detailing the situation and the picture. He didn't want to send it directly to the police yet, he wanted the blond to be humiliated first, then he would nick the picture off his boss if the guy didn't send it in himself. It should arrive in the next few days. Long enough for them blond to feel like he had won.

XxxX

One week later Sanji's boss called him into his office. Sanji was then informed that the restaurant did not employ fags and was fired. It was everything he had hoped to avoid, his worst nightmare come true. On his way out Fullbody mocked a surprised face. Damn...

It was a mess. At first people started giving him off looks as he went by. He tried to ignore them best he could but each pair of eyes bored holes in his skin. One day he came home and found the message 'queers' painted on the apartment door. Once this became a matter of public attention the police got involved, someone probably sent the picture in. 

One evening there was a knock at the door. When Sanji undid the lock the door was shoved open and a police badge was shoved in his face. 

"Sanji Noir, you are under arrest," said the officer holding the badge, "Against that wall, hands behind your back," Another officer helped him out by shoved him into a wall and placed cuffs on his wrists. 

This is when Zoro walked into view and the fist officer pulled a gun. 

"Woah," said Zoro slightly sarcastically, "No need for that." 

Zoro was also detained in a similar manner. As they were being shoved out the door the police started trashing their apartment. Looking for evidence Sanji supposed, of what he wasn't sure but they wouldn't find anything not that mattered anyway. 

They spent the night in holding cells, different cells, obviously. They went though the legal business that came down to them both being charged with sodomy. Their trials were quick. They considered Zoro a first time offender, but Sanji a second time for his time in Camarillo. Zoro was given one year of probation. Sanji was sentenced to two years in prison. They were given the option for a reduced sentence if they went through a chemical process to limit lobito but the both refused and fair enough because neither of them would have wanted to deal with the effects of estrogen treatment. Sanji said no because he was sick of tests and Zoro because he didn't give a fuck what they thought he wasn't changing anything. They were not allowed to see each other before they were taken away. 

XxxX

Sanji was sent off to prison on June 13, 1956. Prison was much like being back in the hospital to Sanji, only with even less freedom and more violence. The prison guards took a particular interest in him. Not a good kind of interest. Sanji could hold them off well enough but a lot of the time they cuffed him to the bars of his cell and beat the shit out of him. Not fun. Also the other prisoners very much enjoined mocking him. 

XxxX

October 4, 1957

The Russians launched the first artificial satellite Sputnik. Kicking off the space race, because the capitalists could not deal with space communists. 

XxxX

November 3, aboard the soviet vestal Sputnik 2 Laika, a three year old dog, became the first animal to orbit the earth although she died within hours due to overheating. 

XxxX

January 28, 1958, the modern Lego brick model was introduced. This defiantly is a very important moment in history. 

XxxX

July 29, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, was founded. The United States couldn't let the soviets hog up all the space action.

XxxX

June 13, Sanji was released from prison. His stay had been horrible and traumatic but he did eventually get through it. When he got out he first went to Luffy's where Zoro happened to be staying. Their reunion was just as sweet as those before it. While Sanji was away Zoro had a hell of a time finding a new job, no one wanted to take him. Now he worked on a construction site not far away. He got a lot of odd looks but no one wanted to mess with him so being an unfriendly bastard really did pay off. 

Sanji stayed with Nami while he was looking for a new job. Nami felt like all of this was really her fault, if she hadn't said anything in the first place... But Sanji assured her that this was bound to have happened anyway and he was probably right. It would have been smarter to have met in secret, or to have married some woman and snuck off with Zoro from time to time, but he couldn't do that to someone. It was cruel to play with a person's feelings like that. 

Sanji had a hell of a time trying to find a place to work. It didn't matter how good he was, no one wanted him. Eventually he had to swallow his pride and interview for a job at a gay bar. He was way over qualified for the job and his employer, a cross dresser named Bon Clay, was all too happy to have him there. The pay was alright, but he did not get to cook much so that kind of sucked, and he had to deal with an entire horde of homosexuals. Not ideal. Then there was the police harassment to worry about. They would wait outside or around the corner to make arrests or just to give them a beating, a few people even turned up dead. 

Sanji found an apartment complex that would take him, and he moved in. This was not the best idea ever because he was going to live on his own and given his history... But he did not care very much. His active suicidal thoughts had mellowed into blatant disregard for his own life. That's way more healthy, right? 

The marimo also found a place located in another area. Unfortunately, our main characters could no longer risk living together so they had to find other ways to meet up. Sometimes Zoro would show up in the bar making his hours more tolerable and sometimes they would go back to each others houses just for a little while. They did what they could, but it was very difficult. One could think it were rather romantic if it were not such a pain in the ass. 

Despite the turn of events, Sanji made his best efforts to keep his head above the water. He kept his eyes fixed on the horizon, not on the deep churning water around him. He actually did have something to look forward to. A restaurant down the road from the bar was teetering on the edge of going out of business. According to his calculations he might just be able to afford to buy the place and turn it into something special. Just maybe, if things fell in his favor. He did have a bit of money saved up, just in case and he was taking as many hours as he could working in the bar. He did not mention this doorway that was starting to materialize in front of him to anyone because he thought it might just disappear again. 

That next spring the restaurant went up for sale and Sanji went to buy it. The owners were an older couple working with their fulling grown children to run the place, they were kind and though they knew what Sanji was they made no comment, only considered his bid. They told him that they would get back to him at a later date. 

Two weeks later, after signing some papers and transferring some money Sanji was in the possession of his own restaurant. 

On his way home from finishing off the deal Sanji was suddenly stuck by a wave of glee. Instead of running home, he ran to Zoro's place. He shoved the key into the lock and burst through the door. 

The Japanese man looked up from his chair, slightly startled. 

"Guess who just bought a restaurant!" Sanji exclaimed. 

Zoro's eyes widened, "Seriously?"

Sanji nodded enthusiastically. 

Zoro stood suddenly, knocking over his chair and strode across the room. He resisted the urge to pick him up and swing him around in a sort of cinematic cliché. Instead just sort of bear hugged him. "Where is it?"

"It's that little place down by the bar." 

"Did they know who you were?" 

Sanji nodded, "They didn't care, they took my money and gave me the place," he restrained any sort of embarrassing noises he wanted to make to express his happiness. 

Zoro stepped back with a serene smile on his face, that made Sanji's face hurt from the strength of his smile. "We have to tell everyone," he said firmly. And they did, they threw a huge party in the building Sanji now owned. 

Shortly after Sanji became very busy. He moved into the little home space above the restaurant, deciding on a menu, redecorating, hiring chefs and cooks who were willing to work for him, and doing everything else to insure the success of his dream. 

When All Blue, as the restaurant was called, was opened on October 13, 1959 Sanji was extremely nervous. He was confident in his ability to run the place but he was anxious about how many people would show up, please let it be a lot. Luckily for him he had amazing friends who had spread the word of All Blue's opening and the place was packed. 

Sanji was very, very happy. As was everyone else, maybe they did not have everything they wanted but during this time they were on a high. 

XxxX

April 12, 1961, the soviets launched Vostok 1, making Yuri Gagarin the first person in space. 

XxxX

April 17, the CIA tried to push Fidel Castro out of power by launching an invasion by means of American-trained Cubans. The bay of pigs invasion, was a failure. The invasion force surrendered within twenty-four hours.

XxxX

August 15, two days after sealing off East and West Berlin with barbwire the Berlin Wall began construction.

XxxX

August 17, 1962, two men from East Berlin were trying to escape to the safety of West Berlin. The first made it across but the second was shot down by east Berlin machine gun fire, making him the first person to be killed crossing the Berlin Wall, the first of nearly eighty. 

XxxX

October 14, 1962, The Cuban Missile Crisis was a thirteen day standoff between the Americans and the soviets over the presence of secret soviet missiles in Cuba. Both nations had a finger on the metaphorical red button, prepared to destroy the world when they came to an agreement to remove the missiles if the United States promised not to invade Cuba and a secret agreement to withdraw US missiles from Turkey. 

XxxX

June 11, 1963, Thích Quảng Đức, a Mahayana Buddhist monk, committed suicide as a form of protest agains the South Vietnamese government's persecution against Buddhists by setting himself on fire.

XxxX

August 28, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, during the March On Washington. 

XxxX

November 22, 35th president of the United States John F. Kennedy was assassinated. 

XxxX

November 23, the first episode of Doctor Who aired. 

XxxX

July 2, 1964, the Civil Rights Act was enacted, banning discrimination based on sex, race, color, religion, or nationality. It did not solve every problem instantly, but it was a good step forward. 

XxxX

February 9, 1965, the first United States combat units were sent to Vietnam. 

XxxX

August 11, Marquette Frye, an African-American, was pulled over for reckless driving. After failing a field sobriety test he was placed under arrest. While he was being arrested a crowd began to gather and watched what appeared to them another instance of racially motivated arrest by the police force. This is the event that prompted a six day riot in south central Los Angeles. 

It really was a mess, people running around in the streets, burning buildings, violence, that sort of thing. 

On the thirteenth, Sanji and Zoro were walking to Sanji's place, having just escorted Nami to Luffy's. They could have stayed but this was the perfect opportunity for them to spend some time together. 

As they walked closer to the restaurant they noticed the black billowing smoke rising from Sanji's street. The blond felt a sinking feeling of dread. It's probably another place, he told himself, it doesn't have to be mine. 

But it did, and as All Blue came into view they saw that it was in fact on fire. Flames licked up the sides of the building like sharp little tongues, leaving scorched brick behind. There was a fire brigade, trying to put out the fire but the building next to it was also on fire and they had arrived too late to stop the flames in their infancy. 

Sanji was frozen in place, each crackle of burning objects led to a tighter clench on his heart. Zoro watched him silently, not sure quite what to do, Sanji had not really reacted yet. He was just staring at it blankly. When he did eventually get around to reacting it was done in a very violent way. He charged toward the burning building, but not before Zoro had a hold on the back of his shirt. The Japanese man yanked him back and restrained him to the best of his ability. It was not an easy job to do and he was left with a number of pains and bruises but he managed to keep Sanji from running to his burning home. 

When he was done struggling Sanji slumped against Zoro and stared ahead in a catatonic manner. 

"Oi, cook, you okay? Sanji?" Zoro asked in concern, turning his chin so that they were face to face. There was no response, the sad blue eyes never left the bright flames, "Come on, blondie, you're freaking me out here." his alarm was steadily growing. 

After a bit of prompting Sanji finally spoke."It's not fair," he mumbled unsteadily as his eyes finally moved to Zoro's. 

"It's not," the marimo agreed, solemnly. 

Sanji gave a short humorless laugh and put his hands to his eyes as they started to brim with tears, "Fuck... Fucking... Shit.." he said very eloquently, he always did have a way with words. 

"How bad?" The swordsman asked, referring to how badly he was feeling. It was something they had to consider at depressingly consistent rate. Sanji had been far more stable after the opening of All Blue, but he still had his ups and downs. Emotional scars and the like. 

"I've never felt this shitty in my entire life," Sanji said miserably, with a shuddering sigh. 

That can't be good, was Zoro's first thought. It was actually really, really terrible to be honest and alarmingly true. 

After a few minutes of consolation and trying to get it together, Sanji finally managed to rip himself away form the scene before him. Together he and Zoro walked back to the marimo's place. 

For the next five days Sanji hardly moved from bed. He got up when his friends came to see him, to make sure he was okay, but aside from that he made no move to do anything. Zoro forsake work during those days to watch the chef and to make sure he didn't to anything stupid. He was sad to say that it was not the first time he had to do something like this. 

The national guard restored order on August 16, leaving people 34 dead, people 1,032 injured, nearly people 4,000 arrested. Over 200 buildings were burned or otherwise destroyed. 

After things had settled down again Sanji got the insurance money, which he used to rebuild All Blue. He had to go through all the tedious steps in hiring people to do construction, and get evening set up. In the mean time he managed to get a job working in another restaurant, he was glad not to go back and work for Bon Clay. 

Everything was nearly back to how it should be by the next February. Physically that is, the events pervious had done a lot of damage to Sanji's frayed mind set, causing him a good deal of grief. 

But this is where our story ends. Endings leave an empty feeling behind, they're always so unsatisfying. Though it is nice when a story end happily. Unfortunately, this is only a small portion of these characters' lives, who knows what will really ending up happening. And this narrator will not tell you either. What happens is up to you to decide. 

What I will tell you is that Sanji and Zoro continued to live through a time that was not suited for them, they did not lead easy lives. Sanji suffered from his time in Camarillo and had to hospitalized a few times in the future years after a few mental break downs. Zoro continued to stick with the cook, even when Sanji didn't want him to stick around. It would have been easier if he had fallen in love with someone else. Someone who wasn't so fucking loyal, that way they could just ditch his sorry ass for someone better. But not Zoro, never Zoro, and that was something Sanji both hated and loved him for. 

So, with this undecided future in mind, just remember that in the end Sanji would probably die of lung cancer, or some other shitty disease like emphysema because he's a chain smoking dumbass and Zoro would probably die of liver failure or something because he's such a fucking alcoholic. But you don't want to think about that, right? So be happy you finished this story with a relatively happy ending, or at least not a sad ending, or maybe it's not really an ending at all. It's just the closing of a portal through which part of a story has played out before you.

Even after that portal closes people fight over things that don't matter, time keeps ticking, the earth keeps spinning, orbiting around the sun, which is orbiting around the center of the Milky Way, which is one of many galaxies surrounded by a black void. And no one notices that this story has ended because it doesn't matter to anyone anyway. 

The end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, blackmail is fun. In the movie Victim (1961) some gay lawyer dude gets blackmailed over a picture sort of like this. It's really quite sad. 
> 
> The Hacienda Arms was actually a famous brothel that was declining in fame but it's the only apartment name I could find. 
> 
> Miranda laws weren't established until 1966 so no reading people their rights. 
> 
> I've spelled restaurant about a million times now and I misspell it every single time. 
> 
> Yeah, so this is what I did over the summer of 2014, and then redid after that when half of the finalized version was deleted. My goal was 40,000 words and I met that goal so I guess I'm happy. If I were a good writer I probably could have expanded on it better; gone into more detail, it's still too brief in description. Maybe I'll fix it later. I really hope I didn't glorify anything too much, I really tried not to. And I'm sorry if the ending was too much of a fuck you, it's..... Yeah, sorry. 
> 
> If you have any other time periods you suggest I write about feel free to share, I promise that I won't bite. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this. Thank you if you alerted, or gave me kudos, or bookmarked, or subscribed, and especially thank you if you commented on this story. You make me very happy : )
> 
> Tumblr: opens-up-4-nobody
> 
> Live long and prosper,
> 
> Thanks.

**Author's Note:**

> Historical notes and stuff: 
> 
> So, I hope you guys enjoy this thing. I'm trying to make it as historically accurate as possible I got most of my information from documentaries, the internet, and interviews with George Takei. I love George Takei. I might be a bit obsessed with being 100 percent sure of things. 
> 
> So, in 1941 Hawaii was not yet a state and I doubt anyone really knew where Pearl Harbor was. The reason everyone freaked out was they were astounded the Japanese could succeed in such an attack. The government pounced on the chance to enter the war because it destroyed the isolationist feelings. The British were even more excited about this thing. The attack happened around 7:40 am and was less than three hours long. California is three hours ahead of Hawaii so about 10:40. The first radio broadcast was at like 2:30 eastern standard time on CBS but at this point time zones started to confuse me so I was like balls to it and started using whatever time I wanted. That is part of the original transcript though. In the end 2,400 Americans died, 21 ships were sunk, and 188 aircraft a were destroyed in the Pearl Harbor attack. 
> 
> I couldn't add the -san, -chan, -kun honorifics because I wanted Zoro to be the only Japanese one, but it feels weird. I also tried to keep all of the characters away from the draft in some way or another. Thus why Sanji is a relatively new immigrant. I don't exactly know how the draft works in his situation but I would like to believe he he wouldn't have to take part in all of that. And another thing, I feel really really weird about calling Luffy a man. He just seems like too much of a kid but he's eligible to lay down his life for his country. 
> 
> Homophobia, you could be sentence to 1-10 years in jail for sodomy, 15 for 'oral perversion'. That sucks, um no pun intended. Hopefully I balanced Sanji's docile behavior with the amount to time he has had to flip out about it. Three years seems enough to get through the stages of serious anger and denial. 
> 
> Elinore Roosevelt addressed the public at 5:30 est. She spoke with all the authority a president would have. She was a total boss : ) 
> 
> President FDR as you may know survived polio and could not walk but decided to walk down the isle when delivering his speech. He had to uses braces, a cane, and his sons arm to propel himself forward to give off the illusion of walking. And that is his full speech. 
> 
> I own nothing. 
> 
> Thanks.


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